it seemed like folks on the north Atlantic side pulled their boats, pulled up their mooring docks, and took up some other activity in the winter. (although I have heard of "frostbiting" with regard to sail racing...)

And I would have sworn that I had seen photos of frozen inner bay areas posted from time to time... and there was that classic internet snapshot of nearly frozen waves in Nantucket.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/02/26/nearly-frozen-waves-captured-on-camera-by-nantucket-photographer/

Yeah my notion is that the northeast is vastly colder than the northwest. But hey, what do I know... I'm a newbie in the north.