From October to December 1986 a program consisting of sea ice core analysis in combination with sea ice observations was carried out from the icebreaker R/V Polarstern as part of the Winter Weddell Sea Project. The ship operated in the central and southeastern Weddell Sea with interests focusing on the ice shelf front between 70°S and 77°S where a system of coastal polynyas extended for several tens to hundreds of kilometers, opened and maintained despite temperatures well below freezing by offshore wind forcing. Three wind‐controlled ice‐formation regimes may be distinguished: (1) For wind speeds <3 m/s, a continuous sheet of columnar ice with little deformation (<10% rafted) develops. (2) For wind speeds of 3–10 m/s, the ice cover is more highly rafted and ridged (25–50%) and shows an intermediate columnar/granular texture with features common to both these ice types. (3) For wind speed >10 m/s, the ice cover is heavily ridged and rafted (>50%) and formation of granular ice predominates. Of the total length of cores sampled in the coastal regime, 32% consisted of columnar and 35% of granular ice. In addition, we observed two unique ice classes along the coast. Platelet ice, formed through consolidation of underwater ice platelets underneath the solid ice cover, contributed 11% to our core samples. Another 22% consisted of intermediate columnar/granular ice, which originates under the dynamic hydrographic conditions of the near‐ice‐shelf region.