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Alabama 650 Paddle Race

Breaks records and delights followers

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Meghan Frondorf
and Wallace Bromberg Jr.
Submitted photos

Twenty of the fiercest, most elite paddlers in the world battled stormy elements at the start but finished strong in record time in the third edition of the Great Alabama 650, the world’s longest annual paddle race.

In late September, paddlers muscled their way through the 650-mile course from Weiss Lake in the north to Fort Morgan in the south, which covered the stretches of Neely Henry and Logan Martin lakes in between.

The statewide race has all the components of a great adventure – whitewater, tidewater currents, hikes around nearly a dozen dams – en route to a finish line 650 miles from the start.

Top finishers were:

Joe Mann and Paul Cox – 4 days, 17 hours, 2 minutes
Salli O’Donnell – 4 days, 22 hours, 39 minutes
West Hansen, 5 days, 19 hours, 9 minutes

The Alabama 650 website featured a live map throughout the race with up-to-the-minute updates on each of the boats’ locations. Facebook and Instagram posts from the field and countless photos, videos and updates came from novice spectators and volunteers along the route during its duration. Hashtag was #AL650.

The map helped spur the interest of spectators all along the course to get a firsthand look at the paddlers coming by. According to Alabama 650 officials, spectators cheered for racers on river banks in Gadsden, Pell City, Wetumpka, Montgomery, Selma, Fairhope and dozens of other points along the way.

The racecourse is the core section of the Alabama Scenic River Trail, a 6,000-plus mile, mapped river trail system. The 650 miles at the core of the river trails extends from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Northeast Alabama through alligator country to the Gulf of Mexico.

Racers had up to 10 days to finish the race to compete for the top spot in three divisions – Male Solo, Female Solo and Two Person Team.

Portages, where paddlers and their crews put in and take out their boats, were nine dams on the Coosa and Alabama rivers.

Volunteers, along with paddlers’ crews, were stationed at portages, helping with logistics of getting the paddlers through each point.

Logan Martin’s Max Jolley served as portage chief at Logan Martin Dam, coordinating volunteers and keeping the pace moving as paddlers came in throughout a 24-hour period in days 2 and 3 of the race.

The first arrivals were about 6 a.m. on Sunday and the last of the paddlers came in between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Monday. He said he was amazed at the speed of this year’s race. “They were two to three hours ahead of last year.”

Jolley, who has been kayaking himself for 30 years, (but not on that level, he is quick to point out) has been involved since the inception of the race. “When I saw it, I wanted to get involved.” Now, he’s hooked. “One of the best things is you get to talk to the crew and the paddlers” on everything from weather to boat traffic. “They like coming down Logan Martin,” where people “greet, wave and clap as they go by.”

O’Donnell, the female solo winner, is a Logan Martin favorite. She has even joined a Facebook group locally, where she talks to fans, and they wish her well or congratulate her. In one post, she talked of stopping a bit for some sleep at the new Lincoln’s Landing.

In an interview with Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Outdoor Alabama, Cox, a member of the winning team estimated he and partner Mann managed an hour of sleep at Wetumpka, two at Selma and two as they neared Fort Morgan for the finish.

“That’s what you have to do to be fast,” Cox recounted to Outdoor Alabama. “Sometimes you have to fight off the sleep monsters. There were definitely moments when I wasn’t paddling well. I was trying to stay upright, splashing myself with water. You have to talk to each other and tell stories. My partner, Joe, is a great storyteller, but he finally told me no more stories. That’s when I knew we needed to pull over and get some sleep.”

O’Donnell, now a member of Love Logan Martin Facebook group, posted her report of the race – a lengthy, detailed account – three weeks later on the group’s page:

This is what she had to say about Logan Martin:

“That stretch is one of my favorite sections along the course because not only is it beautiful but normally there is a lot of boat traffic to keep me entertained. This year was totally different, the lake was practically empty due to the weather. I recall 3 or 4 boats on the whole stretch and the skies remained low, gray and wet. Most of all, I missed bantering with the locals, aka the Logan Martians, although a few brave souls hung out on their docks to cheer us on as we passed by!”

She was paddling alongside Hansen as they came into Logan Martin, and they paddled together to the dam. “West and I reached the Logan Martin Dam portage around 10:15 on Sunday morning and after our 45-minute mandatory hold, off we went towards Lay Dam.”

Heading into Fort Morgan two days later, she wrote, “As I approached CheckPoint 3, I began to have issues with my back-up GPS (remember I lost my primary GPS on the morning of Day 2 / Logan Martin Lake). Water spots under the screen appeared and grew until I couldn’t see anything at all. Fortunately, it was during the daylight and I was familiar with the area.

“Unfortunately, I had no watch and without my GPS I had no idea what time it was or how far I had traveled. I rounded the checkpoint and headed west towards a point of land that I eventually passed and then I headed southwest down into the cove thinking I was on the approach to Fort Morgan. The waves were stern quartering and with my surf rudder I was having fun riding across the backs of waves to keep me high in the cove or running with the waves when it was time to dip down towards Fort Morgan.

“I was having a blast until I finally realized I had headed down one cove too early and had to climb back out (later I would realize it was a 5-mile climb) northwesterly to round the real final point of land before turning southwest for the final 5 miles to Fort Morgan.

West Hansen, winner men’s solo, sets new record

“Once I got around that point of land, I took a short break to adjust myself in my boat and get a quick bite to eat. When I looked up, I saw Rod and Bobby about one hundred yards from me! They took off and again I watched them turn into a dot, only a little more than 5 miles to the finish and they beat me by 16 minutes. Dang it, Bobby!!”

O’Donnell’s post gives ‘Logan Martians’ and the rest a first-person glimpse of what it was like on Logan Martin that Sunday – early in the race – and later legs of the journey toward a record finish: 4 days, 22 hours, 39 minutes.

Her physical condition? She wrote:

“Weight loss of less than 1 pound

Blisters on hands but none that opened

No skin rubs

No skin rashes

No aching muscles

Approximately a total of 13 hours of sleep

Tired but content!”

Jennifer Fratzke’s impressions were a little more succinct: “It’s the funnest, coolest, hardest, most awesome race ever.”

Editor’s Note: Next year’s Great Alabama 650 is scheduled for Oct. 1-11. Registration opens Jan. 1 at noon CST.

About the Alabama Scenic River Trail

The Alabama Scenic River Trail is the longest river trail in the United States.

When it was established in 2008, the river trail was comprised of just one 650-mile stretch of contiguous waterways. It extended from Weiss Lake in Northeast Alabama through the Mobile Bay, a waterway so biologically diverse, it is called “America’s Amazon.”

Today, the river trail includes more than 6,000 miles of mapped river trail and 60 boat rental shops exist on its banks to help paddlers tour the state’s vast aquatic resources.

You may learn more at AlabamaScenicRiverTrail.com.

Fly fishing on the Coosa

All Frank Roden needs is a tie, a fly fish rod and a creek

Story by Paul South
Photos by Wallace Bromberg, Jr.

“Fly fishing is to fishing as ballet is to walking.”

– Howell Raines

“Once you’re a fly fisherman, you’re always a fly fisherman.”

– Frank Roden

From the trout streams of the Great Smoky Mountains to the waters fittingly known as Frank’s Slide at Crow’s Nest Pass in Alberta, Canada, and from Flaming Gorge, Utah, to the tarpon runs in the warm waters of the Florida Gulf Stream, Frank Roden has a trademark.

In the fly-fishing family, he’s “the guy with the tie,” a Windsor-knotted nod to a simpler, more elegant time when fly fishermen dressed to fish like a deacon off to church and before the abomination of “business casual.”

The tie story began when Roden, a 66-year-old Rainbow City auctioneer, furniture salesman and fly-fishing instructor for the iconic Orvis brand, was stalking brown trout in a Smoky Mountain stream. While helping an older angler who struggled to tie a fly on his line, Roden struck up a conversation.

“I miss the days when people used to really dress for fly fishing to the extent of some of us wearing ties,” the older man said.

“I didn’t grow up in those days,” Roden replied. ‘But you know, that’s not going to come back unless we start.’ So I started putting a tie on every time I go trout fishing, and he does the same thing. People have gotten to now where, they say. ‘You must be Frank. We’ve heard about you’, and your tie.

Frank Roden, ready
for a day on the water

“To me, it adds not only the opportunity to stop and talk to somebody because they’re inquisitive. I ran into a fella who said, ‘You’re the best dressed fisherman out here.’ It just opens the door up to conversations and getting to meet people. And you might run into people and end up having dinner together.”

And that leads to the hearing and telling of some outrageous fish stories.

“Some, if they caught as many fish as they said they did, it’d sink the boat,” Roden says.

Roden’s own fly-fishing tale began for him at 13 in some unlikely places – in front of the flicker of a television screen and in a combination Conoco gas station and tackle shop on Highway 77 in Southside.

Roden’s father owned a body and fender shop, where Roden worked on weekends. At lunchtime each Saturday, his Dad would let him run home to watch the ABC outdoor show, American Sportsman. A particular episode featured legendary broadcaster Curt Gowdy fly fishing with an icon of the sport, Lee Wulff.

“That summer, I found a fly-fishing rod. A local shop had a rack full of them. I was having to work to earn my money, and it took me most of the summer to earn the money for the rod and reel.”

Until he had enough money, Roden would go to the service station and watch the rod, tucked among other tackle on the rack, making sure no one bought his coveted fly rod. At one point, he asked his dad for a loan to buy the rod. That is where he learned a life lesson.

“Pop said, ‘You don’t spend it ’til you earn it.’

“I kept working that summer and finally got enough money for my fly rod. I went to the shop and pulled out my wadded-up dollar bills and change, laid them on the counter, I didn’t even know what sales tax was. I just knew how much was marked on the rod.”

Roden remembers only the first name of the man behind the counter – James.

“James said, ‘You took my last rod, you might as well take this’ and put a net on the counter. I was trying to whisper, so that nobody else would overhear that I was broke. I wouldn’t take it. He convinced me to take it. Then he reached and pulled a card of flies off the wall. And laid those down and did the same thing.

“Every Saturday afternoon after that, I’d run up to his shop, take a broom and sweep or run errands, whatever he needed. The afternoon after I got my rod, I went to the lake near home, and I caught 18 bream in an afternoon, and I was hooked ever since.”

Fly fishing is in the midst of something of a revival on the waters of Neely Henry and Logan Martin and the streams of Etowah and St. Clair counties. Places like Big Canoe Creek, Black Creek, Cold Creek upstream and Big Wills Creek. The City of Gadsden has created a winter trout fishery in Black Creek at Noccalula Falls Park, and the city is even promoting fly fishing as part of a tourism push.

He calls Neely Henry and its companion streams “a wonderful venue for fly fishing.”

“There’s a number of streams from the Leesburg Dam to the Ohatchee Dam in the Neely Henry Reservoir. All of these creeks that you run into are good for fly fishing. They all should be explored.”

He had particular praise for the City of Gadsden and its efforts.

“Boy has that been good. It’s been great. We should give them a lot of credit for what they’re doing and for putting the winter trout fishery in.” Greater Gadsden Area Tourism has done a lot to promote the fly fishing here.”

He added a few tips: “On the Coosa River system, what I do, is I look for familiar structure. I will ease along the shoreline and look for fish bedding along the shorelines. I look for busting fish out on the water, nervous water or funneling birds that come down. I’m hunting these fish as much as I’m fishing.”

Roden is like an angling detective probing for clues that will lead him to his catch.

“I’ll tell you what the names of the streams are, but I won’t tell you what rock to stand on. If I tell you what rock to stand on, the mystery is solved.”

Roden is one of the local fly-fishing revival’s chief evangelists. For him, fly fishing is more than a sport.

“It’s more than fishing. It becomes a way of life. This is something that’s going to travel with you throughout life. You may lay that rod down. Twenty years from now, somebody may mention fly fishing and you’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m a fly fisherman.’ Once you are a fly fisherman, you’re always a fly fisherman.”

It’s a sport that demands patience. Like game hunting, fly fishers have to stalk their prey, matching artificial wet and dry flies to local insects that are food for the fish. As Roden puts it, “You have to match the hatch.” Too, it’s about the cast, the drift, the current, hooking the fish properly and on and on. It is a deliberate sport, where ample patience is as important as an accurate cast.

And then there are the stories. Fish stories, it seems, are as old as Jonah in the Old Testament, tales told on back porches and at dinner tables. Frank Roden loves it all.

“I get carried away listening to ’m because most of them have enough truth in them to sound real.”

In one of his stories from a trip to Canada, Roden was in the zone, catching fish regularly. Nearby, two other anglers struggled, with little to show for their efforts. Ever the sportsman, Roden swapped places with his new acquaintances.

He began where he left off, still catching fish. When his friends asked his secret, Roden had a simple response.

“It may be the tie, guys. I don’t know.”

Editor’s Note: For fly fishing instruction or more information on fly fishing locally, visit the Rainbow City Auction and Fly Shop Facebook page, the Rainbow Fly Fishing Club Facebook page, email rauction@gmail.com or call Frank Roden at 256-490-5450.

Wake Surfing

Up-and-coming sport making a splash on Neely Henry and Logan Martin lakes

Story and Photos by Graham Hadley

Want to catch the perfect wave, but don’t have time to go to a beach with decent breaks?

Look no farther than the Coosa River.

For the past few years, surfing enthusiasts have been taking to the water behind specially designed ski boats that allow them to literally surf on the lakes.

Gadsden City High School student Jackson Sparks says different boards ride differently.

This is not the old tow-behind surfing from the 1970s and 80s – there is no towing involved.

The boats are built so they throw enormous wakes, similar to the waves you see at the ocean. Some boats achieve this through filling special tanks in the hull with water. Others have large, heavy water bags put in the back.

This causes the boat to “plough” through the water instead of riding up on plane and making those wave-like wakes.

Unlike regular tow-behind water sports like skiing or wake boarding, once a surfer gets up out of the water and starts carving the wake – usually only feet from the back of the boat, they drop the rope and are moving along solely by riding the wave, just like in the ocean.

The boards look something like a cross between a wake board and a scaled-down traditional surf board and are light and easy to handle.

Because of the shape of the board and the dynamics of riding the wake, it is much easier to get up and going on a wake surfer than on skis or wake boards, said David Partridge, one of the owners of Ski World in Gadsden.

He was also quick to point out that wake surfing is much easier on the body that some of the other tow-behind water sports largely because the boat is going so slow, maybe 9 mph, ploughing through the water to generate the wave.

“We get people out here of all ages, teens all the way up to older people. It is really easy to do and a lot of fun,” he said. “Wake surfing is an all-age thing.”

You start out in the water a couple of yards behind the tow boat with a short but otherwise traditional ski rope, laying back in the water with the board sideways and your feet braced on the pad. As the boat starts, you literally pop out of the water and immediately try to find the sweet spot on the wake.

As the boat speeds up, the wake becomes much more wave like. The rider starts letting the momentum riding down the face of the wake carry them along, just like a traditional wave at the beach. Once they hit that spot, they drop the rope and are surfing the perfect wave. And unlike the beach, where the waves eventually peter out – you can ride a boat-generated wave as long as you can stay up.

Ski World co-owner David Partridge talks to boat driver Austin Young about how the boat rides to create the wavelike wake.

You don’t ever have to have surfed a real wave to take up wake surfing – it has an easy learning curve, Partridge said. The big trick to getting up on the board and staying on the board – there are no bindings like with skis or wakeboards – is not to drag your rear-end in the water.

Dragging in the water like that is a “hard no” said Austin Young, who was driving the boat for the wake surfing demonstration, with Jackson Sparks showing off his skills on two different boards, one designed more for speed and the other with mobility in mind (like regular surfboards, the number of fins and length have a lot to do with that).

Young’s boat used the internal ballast system, pumping in water from the lake to make the boat heavy enough to generate a wave. He was also quick to show off his Star Trek looking gauges at the helm, which gave him every piece of information he needed to run the boat and give his rider a great wave to surf.

Wipeout: All good rides must come to an end.

Partridge, whose shop sells ski supplies but not boats, said watercraft like that can easily top $200,000, though less expensive options are available that use the heavy external ballast bags you lay down in the aft boat cabin instead of internal systems.

Partridge, Young and Sparks agreed that while wake surfing is easy and a great water sport for all ages, safety is still paramount. You need a proper boat rigged with the right gear, safety ski vests, enough people to drive and spot, and to follow not only lake boating laws, but to show common courtesy to other boaters and property owners – especially since the surf boats are throwing wakes with heights measured in feet.

Check out our story from Discover The Essence of St. Clair about the wakeboarding judge and his wife on Logan Martin, complete with video.

Let the season begin!

All the ways to take to the water

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos submitted

A global pandemic, the ensuing shutdowns and the resulting economic struggles set up 2020 to be bad from stem to stern.

And yet, it was a banner year in some respects, particularly with a reawakening to the great outdoors and all things nautical. Boating caught a big wave of popularity.

“Boat-buying is through the roof,” Katie Grell, sales manager at Buck’s Island in Southside said. Demand has been so great that it is outpacing the ability of manufacturers to keep up. “…

It has been like this for a solid year.”

The same goes for personal watercraft, and even the trailers on which to haul them, said Chris Dobbins, general sales

manager of Speed Zone Motorsports in Gadsden.

“Last year, we were sold out for the summer before

Memorial Day even hit,” Dobbins said.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), based in Chicago, Ill., notes this marked increase in boating in its January report, “U.S. Boat Sales Reached 13-year High in 2020, Recreational Boating Boom to Continue through 2021,” (posted on Business Wire, businesswire.com). The NMMA, “representing North American recreational boat, engine and accessory manufacturers, reports that retail unit sales of new powerboats in the U.S. increased last year by an estimated 12 percent over 2019. More than 310,000 new powerboats were sold in 2020, The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), based in Chicago, Ill., notes this marked increase in boating in its January report, “U.S. Boat Sales Reached 13-year High in 2020, Recreational Boating Boom to Continue through 2021,” (posted on Business Wire, businesswire.com). The NMMA, “representing North American

recreational boat, engine and accessory manufacturers, reports that retail unit sales of new powerboats in the U.S. increased last year by an estimated 12 percent over 2019. More than 310,000 new

powerboats were sold in 2020, levels the recreational boating industry has not seen since before the Great Recession in 2008.”

John-Michael Donahue, NMMA’s vice president of North American public affairs, told LakeLife 24/7 that figures so far in 2021 indicate the trend is continuing.

“Boat sales are expected to remain at historic levels in 2021 as manufacturers continue to fill a backlog of orders from 2020,” the NMMA report states.

Mark Hildebrant, a family owner of Woods Surfside Marina in Cropwell, said,“The lakes were crowded last year. And they are going to be as crowded or more this year.”

The pandemic shutdown in March and April of 2020 sent

uncertainty through the industry, Donahue said. But people quickly recognized that boating was a safe way to escape isolation and to enjoy family time.

Grell, too, thought 2020 was certain to be a bad sales year. “Boy, did I get it wrong. … We’ve never had a year so good!”

At the three-day Alabama Boat Show and Expo at Barber Motorsports in Leeds in March 2021, Hildebrant got a glimpse of what this year holds for boat dealers: He took 13 units to the show and sold 22. “It was crazy.”

Pontoons and Tritoons

Eddie Rush of Poor House Branch Marina in Lincoln said customers are particularly interested in pontoons and tritoons. And they want lots and lots of horsepower.

According to the NMMA report, purchases of pontoons and freshwater

fishing boats constituted about 50 percent of new powerboat sales in 2020.

The sales are estimated to have been up 12 percent in 2020. The industry’s pre-pandemic expectations were only for a 2-percent increase.

Way back when, pontoons were just for cruising. But now, Rush said, they are built to be powerful and multipurpose.

While some people may have, in the past, had a pontoon for cruising and a separate boat for skiing or tubing, pontoons and tritoons with large engines now combine the purposes, said John Coffman, manager and mechanic with

University Marine at Pine Harbor in Pell City.

Jeff Morris, operations manager of Rodney’s Marine in Cropwell, said the versatility of tritoons is driving sales. Tritoons, he explained, can now accommodate a wide range of horsepower. “They’re not your grandpa’s pontoon anymore.” They seat 10-14 people and pull

towables, wakeboards and skiers. The innovations in toon design, motor technology, electronics, navigation system and lights add to the popularity of pontoons and tritoons. Many models also have transformable seating arrangements, such as a lounging area that folds to make a table.

The vessels are available in entry-level models to high-end products with myriad features,

Morris said. “We carefully listen and evaluate the customer needs to recommend a tritoon that is right for their style of boating.”

Coffman said pontoons and tritoons, in general, require less maintenance and are cheaper to operate than runabouts.

They are stable and give a relaxing ride, even in a wake, Rush said. “They don’t porpoise on the waves. They don’t dead-rise at takeoff (like a ski boat). It just goes straight. When you hit waves, they don’t bounce you all over the place.”

When it comes to horsepower on a pontoon or tritoon, more is better, it seems.

Ten years ago, pontoons commonly had 150hp engines. Now, they tend to have 200hp or more, said Coffman.

“We are seeing pontoons with 425hp,”

Hildebrant said.

First-Time Buyers

Coffman and Hildebrant said another

surprising trend in 2020 was the number of individuals who became first-time boat owners and lake fans.

“The uptick in sales of first-time boat owners is a big trend,” Hildebrant said.

Coffman said he saw “more people who aren’t lake people becoming lake people.”

Ryan Tyler, vice president of Skier’s Marine in Westover estimated that the number of people new to boating who came to his business was probably the largest in 10 years.

Grell said interest rates and finance terms currently available also are attracting more young buyers.

Donahue said tips on buying and enjoying boats and being safe on the water can be found

at discoverboating.com.

Wake Boats

Wake boats are getting quite a bit of attention now.

“(Wake boats) really hit the market hard in 2013,” Tyler said.

According to the NMMA report, “Sales of wake boats – popular for wakesurfing, skiing and wakeboarding and attractive to new and active boaters – are estimated to be up 20 percent to 13,000 units in 2020.”

Bennett Rambo, general manager of Rambo Marine in Westover, described wake surfing as “a low-impact sport.” He said surfing is done at slower speeds and with less intensity than other watersports.

Because the surfer rides the wake close behind the boat, the prop must be safely positioned completely away from the surfer. Rambo also said the vessels have a combination of features – such as ballast, cruise control and surf gate – to create wake.

It is all automated, Tyler said. He added that the boats are intuitive to use and drive like a sports car. He calls them “all-around, family fun boat(s).”

To create wake, the boats “have to have a lot of power and torque,” Tyler continued. Nonetheless, the wake size can be tailored to the surfer’s weight and skill level. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all wave.”

Rambo said the wide variety of wake boats fit most any skill level.

The boats range in length from 20 to 26 feet, with engines from 373 to 522hp, Tyler said.

Personal watercraft

Personal watercraft are hot commodities right now, too.

In fact, their shortage during last summer fueled a surprise buying spree in December 2020 and January 2021 when the units were

available again, Dobbins said.

Plus, more individuals are purchasing multiple units than in the past, Dobbins said. Recently, a customer from Florida bought four.

“They are going fast,” Dobbins said.

The NMMA’s report states that “sales of personal watercraft … are estimated to be up 8 percent to 11,000 units in 2020.”

Dobbins has seen more out-of-state buyers during this time. In one day, he assisted customers from Florida and Illinois, who came to get what they were having trouble finding in their own area.

Manufacturers, he continued, are producing personal watercraft at various prices to give financial choices. “That definitely helps.”

Lenders have also established special promotions for buyers purchasing multiple units, he said.

Dobbins’ advice for those planning to enjoy the water this summer is to get the necessary equipment early.

Incidentally, the NMMA report states that buying personal watercraft may be the first step toward becoming a boat owner.

“Personal watercraft are often considered a gateway to boat ownership.”

Young boaters

In recent years, high schools and colleges have begun offering fishing as a sports option, said Grell.

This has gained traction of late, with many more high schools creating teams, she said.

As a result, the demand for new and used fishing boats has risen, as parents seek to purchase a vessel for their student.

Grell said one of her customers began fishing in high school two years ago and now is on Auburn University’s fishing team.

Father-and-son duos are buying boats as well, she said.