Huntsville, Alabama

Anyone familiar with Huntsville, Al? I've got a job interview with a company out there and I'm wondering how the riding is. Is the Tennessee river good for riding there -- can you find good water easily?

We lived in Knoxville for a while and loved it. We could always find good water there (the Tn. river runs through there too).

Are there a lot of marinas and ramps? From Google maps it didn't look like there were that many.

How long can you ride there? It seems like 7 months should be doable. Can you ride more than that?

Anyway, any help would be appreciated -- after all if the riding's not good there I might as well not bother to do the interview!

We are about 100 miles away in Chattanooga, you will be able to find good water almost any time.

We have ridden in every month of the year but generally start in February or March with a dry suit switch to a wetsuit top in April. Back to a wetsuit top in October and November. So you can easily ride 8 months and 10 if you really want to push.

Check out www.wakefactory.net to find North AL riders.

Right now we live in Utah so I'm guessing trunking it in March in Alabama is about like wearing a wetsuit in July here!

That said, Utah has some awesome boarding. We've got 5 lakes within an hour of us.

Anyone know if waterfront property is reasonable in Huntsville?

Excellent! I've lived in HSV all my life and we need some more riders. The river is pretty good to ride in 90% of the time. There are hardly any boats out even on the weekend - the water cops are very lax - the main dock is real easy to get in and out of, it never takes more than 5 minutes to put in. There's also a back up marina a 1/2 mile down the road. Even if the water is bad - which is always because of the wind coming over the mountains, and when it's rough it's tore up with white caps - there are a few channels to go to that are out of the wind that are decent.

We usually get started riding in shorty suits around the end of March. It's still hella cold but doable. In trunks by May, and back in suits from October to whenever it get too cold.

As for waterfront property, my old boss bought an acre plot 4 years ago for 80,000 and just sold it for 150,000+, so unless you've got serious bank or TVA opens up more land it's pretty unreasonable. You could try Guntersville (about 20 minutes away) but it's about the same price. If you stay on the south end of town you won't be more than 10 minutes from the dock, and the marina has good prices on dry dock.

Shoot me a mail if you want to know any more.
crackshouse@hotmail.com

Steve ~ thanks for the info. It sounds nice. I didn't think you got that much wind down there. I'm surprised you don't get more people boating there with so much water and a long season.

Are you talking about the marina by Decatur junction (I just saw it on google)?

150K doesn't actually sound too bad compared to some places. Not that I could afford it...

I have trunked it in Central AL in late March and early April, it's not too bad. I have a shorty wetsuit that I usually use though.

slfxm, I lived in Huntsville for 30 years now. There are many great places to ride and a lot of riders in the area. If you live in Huntsville or Madison you will be close to TN River. As far as marinas, you have Ditto Landing and Whitesburg Harbor in Huntsville. (prefer Ditto) In Madison, you can go to Triana. That is where I put in because it's quicker to get to then Ditto from my house. You have to go through the ghetto, but the water is normally good during the week and early on the weekends. There is also a few ramps on base at Redstone Arsenal, but unless you have access to the base, those will be unreachable.

Away from Huntsville, there is Decatur and Guntersville. There isn't much riding in Decatur that I know of, but Guntersville is a great place to ride. That is where you will find most of your lake homes, but be prepared to pay a premium. I would suggest buying close to the water and trailering. You will fight for water on the weekends in good water in Guntersville so during the week is better there. There are a bunch of riders up there.

Where is your job interview at? Hit me up if you have any other questions. Check out wakefactory.net for a few other people to talk with from the area. Dustin Middlebrooks has the pulse on Guntersville.

slfxm, If you are moving to the Huntsville area, you really need to check out Guntersville. Living here, you really dont need a place on the lake. You are surrounded by water. Google map it, you will see.

You can reach me at: dustin@wakefactory.net We can go into more detail.

Hey slfxm, I have been living in Rexburg Idaho and rode that area as well as in Utah and you will find it much warmer out here. You will be able to ride longer in the year. The water gets much warmer out here as well. We ride huntsville a couple of times a year and it is always a lot of fun. My only complaint with guntersville is that it can get really choppy and can be hard to find good water.

Thanks for all the replies.

Why does it get so choppy out there -- is it wind? When we lived in Knoxville it was almost never windy. There were a lot of boats (some were pretty big, too) on the weekends but weekdays were always good.

The transition from Tennessee to Utah definitely showed us what cold water is like. I'm guessing Huntsville water would seem pretty nice after the 52 degree water we had in June at Starvation Reservoir (in Utah).

slfxm,
Huntsville is nice, it's definitely not as redneck as most parts of alabama because 70% of the people here moved for jobs with nasa etc. I live in madison, which is about 3 minutes from huntsville, and i normally ride on wheeler lake which is the Tennessee river between guntersville lake and pickwick lake. Where we ride is about an hour away from huntsville, but it's not too hard to find good water out there. On the weekend evenings, you can normally find some really good water, but during the day, you may have to drive a bit.

Also, you have triana, but the only problem is that it's complete river there and the closest coves i believe are closer to decatur, but the water should be ok there during the week if there isn't wind.

Here's a few pictures from the area we ride.

This was in the middle of the day on a saturday in a nice cove we found
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Wakeboarddrumma/Photo0040.jpg
Here's what you can expect just about every evening as far as water goes. It gets nice and smoothhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Wakeboarddrumma/IMG_0103.jpg
And
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Wakeboarddrumma/IMG_0065.jpg
And here is how the river is most of the time during the day. Keep in mind, this is in the middle, not in the coves we ride in
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Wakeboarddrumma/SUC50147.jpg

The end of the river we ride in is nice. There is second creek which is within a mile of my friends lakehouse, and if it's a weekend or busy, we'll head to spring creek which is 3 or 4 miles down the river. Spring creek stays glassy normally.

slfxm
The choppiness is from the wind usually. There are lot of mountains and cliffs bordering the river where I ride (near Ditto marina). It's perfectly calm in the morning but once the air heats up it's like the wind comes pouring over the mountains. In the evening the wind usually goes the same direction as the river so it has plenty of room to make ripples. This is only a major problem once in a while. If you like getting up early it's all glass till about 9AM, and right before sunset is great too.

Steve,
What are you riding behind over at ditto? I make it out there about once or twice a year with a friend of mine, but it's mainly skiing and such when i go over because that's what they do most of.

slfxm, it's not bad at all. I ride nearly everyday. You will be just fine. In the Guntersville area, we ride on the daily behind a boat, a winch, or just hitting sliders. We have a lot for this small town.

We usually try to make it out at least twice a week or more. Typically we head out on a weekday after work (around 4:00) and ride until sunset.

I imagine we'd probably do the same thing there. I have young kids (3 and 6) and it'd be difficult to get everyone up and ready to ride before 9 A.M.

From looking at Google maps it looks like there's enough coves (in the lakes) and bends in the river that you should be able to find something sheltered.

It sounds awesome. Hopefully things will work out. I've still got to go through the whole interviewing thing but it looks like it's passed the "water test" so far.

Chad ~ was that pic taken from a jetski? Blasphemy!

(Message edited by slfxm on July 21, 2008)

it was, because it's the only way to access the spot. We were skating behind it that day.

On a normal weekday, you pretty much can't beat the river for riding after work. I live on Zierdt Rd. in Madison. I can leave work at 4, pick up, prep and gas my boat from my house and be on the water by 5. You will have to deal with a barge every now and then which trashes the water in the immediate vicinity for about 20 minutes. You also have to deal with the dam schedules. If both dams are open and pulling water, there will be slight repetitive rollers until they close the dams, usually around 5 or 6. But normally, you can see your reflection in the water because it is so smooth. All things considered, I think the river is great for weekday riding, and it makes for a decent booze cruise on the weekends.

Chad

Chad,
We're behind my buddy's red proline 190. I am sadly without boat right now but I hope to fix that before next season.

slfxm
Whats the interview for?

Steve,
Oh ok. I'll look out for you.

Chad Seymour,
Do you know who has the nautique over in triana? I've gone over there a time or two on the weekdays and have seen the truck and trailer. Never do see the boat though

wakeboarddrumma, if your talking about the black Avalanche with the Nautique trailer, that would be him. 2008 210 SANTE... black with a red stripe under the rubrail.

Yep, that's me....

Jason & Steve ~ I'm a software engineer. I hear there are quite a few jobs out there in my field. I've got a phone interview with Draper Labs tomorrow. Anyone know anything about them?

No kiddin. I get my associates in software engineering end of this week. There are plenty of jobs out here but it's real competitive. Never heard of draper.

Cool. Congratulations. That's my favorite part of school -- the part when it's over.

Can't say I've heard of Draper either, but Steve is right, it's competitive for any type of comp./software jobs in this town.

Chad Seymour,
I've seen you there a time or two though. Do you guys ride near triana or do you run down the river a bit?

By the way, your rig looks pretty sweet.

There are quite a few jobs here for engineers...the problem is that everyone in town is an engineer. If you have some experience you should be in good shape though. I think most of the competition is for the entry level positions.

Jason....I just realized we went to Grissom together. '96 right?

Drumma,

Unless I'm running down to stay in front of a barge, I run up river. Depending on the wind, you can always find decent water, plus in the event of something bad ever happening, it's easier to float down river than up it.
We even made it out yesterday between the two sets of thunderstorms that rolled through.

Appreciate the thanks!

Chad

Yes, I graduated in '96 from Grissom, but I don't remember you, much less anyone else. Big class and I was at work more than in school.