Beyond simply following at a chosen distance, what specific information should the following vessel proactively communicate to the icebreaker during an escorted transit?

A. Communication during escorted transit is one-directional, with the icebreaker never expected to receive or act on information from the following vessel

B. No proactive communication from the following vessel is necessary; the icebreaker is solely responsible for monitoring the following vessel's status

C. The following vessel should only communicate with the icebreaker if a collision has already occurred

D. Any difficulty maintaining the planned distance or speed (engine response lag, reduced manoeuvrability, ice building up around the hull), any change in the vessel's own ice-handling performance, and clear, prompt notification if the vessel is falling behind or in danger of losing the broken channel — the icebreaker cannot adjust its own speed/route appropriately without this real-time feedback from the vessel it is escorting

A. Once an icebreaker has passed through an area, the channel remains open indefinitely with no risk of re-closing behind it

B. Following distance and channel position have no practical bearing on the difficulty of ice the following vessel will encounter

C. The following vessel should always travel well outside the broken channel to avoid the icebreaker's wash, regardless of the harder ice this involves

D. Maintaining a safe following distance and staying accurately within the broken channel the icebreaker has created, since ice at the channel edges (or ice that has begun to close back in behind the icebreaker) is far more resistant than the freshly broken channel itself — straying from the channel risks the vessel encountering significantly harder, unbroken ice than the icebreaker's passage was calculated to manage

A. Following distance has no meaningful safety trade-off; any distance is equally safe regardless of ice conditions

B. Following too closely risks collision with the icebreaker if it slows or stops suddenly (e.g. encountering a particularly difficult ice ridge), while following too far back risks the broken channel beginning to close in behind the icebreaker before the following vessel reaches that section, exposing it to harder ice than intended — the appropriate distance depends on ice conditions, vessel manoeuvrability, and communication with the icebreaker, not a single fixed rule

C. Following too far back is always safer than following too closely, with no risk of the channel closing in over that distance

D. Following too closely is always safer than following too far back, with no countervailing collision risk to consider