 Like other icebreakers of her time, she was also equipped with sails which, while rarely used, remained in the inventory until the 1920s.In many ways "Avance" resembled the first state-owned icebreaker of Finland, "Murtaja", although her bow was of improved Swedish design which increased her icebreaking capability.The angle of the stem, the first part of the ship to encounter and break the ice, was 22 degrees.