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Duluth, Minn.

Photos: Ride with Duluth's icebreaker tugs

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Tug Helen H captain Mike Ojard
Tug Helen H captain Mike Ojard surveys the slip surrounding the Presque Isle during ice-breaking operations Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Duluth-Superior Harbor near Duluth, Minn.
Derek Montgomery / For MPR News

Sixty-eight-year-old tug Capt. Mike Ojard has lived his whole life among tugs along the North Shore of Lake Superior. His dad was the chief engineer on a tug in Two Harbors; his uncle was the captain. He echoes what everyone around the harbor is saying -- this is the worst ice on the lake in 20 years.

Gallery
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Anchoring for lunch
The tug Helen H anchors for lunch after a morning of ice-breaking operations Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Duluth-Superior Harbor near Duluth, Minn.
Derek Montgomery / For MPR News
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Tug Helen H captain Mike Ojard
Tug Helen H captain Mike Ojard surveys the slip surrounding the Presque Isle during ice-breaking operations Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Duluth-Superior Harbor near Duluth, Minn.
Derek Montgomery / For MPR News
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A snowy owl sits on the broken ice.
Humans and tugboats weren't the only active objects in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. Here, a seagull makes a pass at a Snowy Owl that took up residence near a chunk of ice close to where the tug Helen H was breaking up ice around the Presque Isle Thursday, March 20, 2014 in the Duluth-Superior Harbor near Duluth, Minn.
Derek Montgomery / For MPR News