Lees Cut Comfortable Paddle
On August 28, Janet Smith and Bob Laney drove with our kayaks to Lees Cut at the north end of Banks Channel on the sound side of Wrightsville Beach, N.C. Our put-in and take-out were the Wrightsville SUP shop beach. My plan was to make it a quite comfortable paddle so as not to push Janet or me on a casual day. My Montana GPS reported we traveled 1.8 miles in 1.5 hours.
Besides the short distance and time, another comfortable factor is that, unlike out last several trips to Lees Cut, the weather conditions were with us instead of against us. The air was sunny and warm. The water was warm. We paddled at high tide, making for almost no current. The mud bottom paths through the sea grass estuary were full of water and traversable. And the wind was a manageable 5 to 7 miles per hour.
Last year, I pushed Janet to stop paddling her Old Town 10 foot long and very wide fishing kayak. She let me get her a Wilderness Systems 13.5 foot long Tsunami, which is much sleeker and faster. I wanted her to be able to keep up with my Eddyline Sitka XT 15.5 foot boat. Unfortunately, Janet needs more room to stretch out her legs, and occasionally trail her feet in the water. So, for the first time in a year, she switched back to the Old Town. Things went well. She paddled easily and dragged her feet in the water. We stayed reasonably close together.
We lollygagged through and around the sea grass island in the middle of the Cut. Then we explored to the ends of several small bays on the north and east sides of the Cut. Everything was pleasant. On our way back to the Wrightsville SUP shop’s beach, we passed several seagulls floating on the seawater, which I had not seen before.
