Through Sally's Gut

Perhaps I'd better explain. The Acorn was the name of a beautiful classic motorboat. It was a 35-footer of narrow beam, built to the design of a Johnson hull before World War II. She was a magnificent creation with a gleaming varnished fore-deck and an engine that purred like a kitten. They really don't make wooden boats like that any more. I was fortunate enough to ride in her, and taking her through Sally's Gut was quite a challenge.

Wind Dancer is the model name of my Eddyline brand 17-foot sea kayak, a lightweight beauty that smoothly glides across the waves. Some 45 years after my trip through Sally's Gut in the Acorn, I repeated the journey, but this time in my man-powered white kayak.

Enough already. What in the heck is Sally's Gut you ask? Well, it's a very narrow and winding channel on New Hampshire's magnificent Lake Winnipesaukee. It's a very shallow waterway between Stonedam Island and the peninsula called Meredith Neck. Only small boats can traverse the channel because of its confined and limited width. The 35-foot Acorn was almost the largest boat one could prudently take through the Gut.

Approaches from the southern entry of that the north-south channel are marked by spar buoys, warning mariners of the rocks and ledges on both sides of the narrow passage. Craft that draw more than six feet of water should avoid this route. Speed is limited to headway only. No-wake restrictions apply.

I have no idea where the name for Sally's Gut came from, but that isn't the real attraction anyway. What draws folks to the waterway is the beauty of wooded and pristine Stonedam Island so close on one side and the charming collection of summer cottages on the Meredith Neck mainland side. It's really a delightful place to see, as well as being a mariner's challenge.