West Hansen naps on the side of the river. He’s currently holed up in a different spot, 10 miles from the finish of the Great Alabama 650, waiting for bay conditions to improve. Barbara Hansen Edington photo

Austin paddler West Hansen pulled ashore about 10 miles from the finish of the Great Alabama 650 Thursday afternoon, and at 9 p.m. he was still hunkered down, waiting for conditions to improve in Mobile Bay.

A small craft advisory was in effect, and winds were 17 miles per hour. Hansen’s support crew said he likely would wait until morning to cover the final miles to Fort Morgan.

Despite the delay – Hansen has been grounded since about 3 p.m. – he remained in position to win the men’s solo division of the 650-mile paddling race. The next closest paddlers were still more than 100 miles back at 9 p.m.

The tandem team of Paul Cox and Joe Mann, who finished at 7:49 a.m. Thursday, won the overall race. The tandem team of Bobby Johnson and Rod Price were second, followed by solo female winner Salli O’Donnell, whom Hansen had predicted early on would be his biggest competition among solo paddlers.

Cox and Mann broke their own record, finishing four days, 22 hours and 25 minutes after the race started Saturday morning.

Paddling toward the finish of the Great Alabama 650

O’Donnell, 61, and Hansen, 59, paddled within a few miles of one another for much of the race, swapping the lead several times, but she pulled away early Thursday, as they neared the bay.

Salli O’Donnell shows off a blister after finishing the Great Alabama 650. Photo courtesy Salli O’Donnell

When told that Hansen had been forced ashore and was waiting for better conditions, O’Donnell, who had already made it back to her home in Florida, groaned.

“Those are brutal miles,” she said. “My heart is breaking for him because I know he just wants to get off that freaking course.”

She said she found it odd that she and Hansen had paired up for so much of the race.

“He’s definitely a faster paddler than I am,” she said. “Each of us has our own ebb and flow. I told him when you’re flowing you’ve got to keep going because if we match each other’s ebbs we’re going to be slow.”

A long race

The 650-mile race started Saturday morning in northeastern Alabama. Rain that fell steadily during the first three days boosted flows along the route, which follows the Coosa and Alabama Rivers. The rain kept up for three days, turning roads and checkpoints into mud pits.

Last night and this morning, as they cut through the wide, exposed waters of the bay, the racers faced buffeting winds, 2- to 3-foot chop, and much cooler temperatures. At one point Wednesday night, Hansen rolled his boat. He came ashore to dry off, warm up and reset, losing more time against O’Donnell. He also experienced trouble with his boat’s rudder.

“Salli was just well conditioned. She knew the course,” said Robert Youens, one of Hansen’s crew members.

The last 18 miles of the race are a slog, as the racers swing to the west, paralleling a narrow strip of coastline at the bottom of Mobile Bay. Waves today were so big at times that the paddlers disappeared from view between swells, Youens said.

West Hansen takes a break during the Great Alabama 650. He was forced ashore Wednesday afternoon and is still waiting for conditions to improve. Photo by Barbara Hansen Edington

A perfect race

Race director Greg Wingo said the race couldn’t’ have unfolded any better. “We have a new record that’s going to be unbelievably hard to beat, and another historic battle between Salli and Bobby (Johnson, in the second-place tandem team) that went down to the wire,” Wingo said.

Youens said he was proud of Hansen’s effort, especially since the racers who beat him all have paddled the Great Alabama 650 before.

“These are experienced people who knew all the tricks,” he said. “He’s a freshman to this race and he ran with three veteran crews. It’s a hell of an accomplishment.”

West Hansen heads out for more paddling. Photo by Barbara Hansen Edington

Lizet Alaniz, left, and Max Dugas, center, assist paddler West Hansen at a fuel stop on Day 4 of the Great Alabama 650. Photo by Rob Byrd

Solo competitors West Hansen and Salli O’Donnell were paddling side by side again Tuesday afternoon, tied for second place overall on Day 4 of the Great Alabama 650.

The two veteran endurance paddlers – both leading their classes – were about two-thirds of the way through the 650-mile race, with about 435 miles of river behind them as of 5 p.m. The race starts in northeastern Alabama and finishes at Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay.

The first three days of the race, the 13 boats that entered faced a deluge of water, the aftermath of storms that have caused flooding across the state. The rains, though, have boosted flows along the route, which follows the Coosa and Alabama Rivers as they snake from north to south. The field, now down to 12 boats, is about 10 hours ahead of last year’s pace.

West Hansen takes a break during Day 4 of the Great Alabama 650. Photo by Rob Byrd

Hansen and O’Donnell are chasing a tandem team paddled by last year’s winners, Joe Mann and Paul Cox, who finished the 2020 race in just under six days.

Related: Current Events His Way: West Hansen on paddling

This year’s rain-fueled, fast-moving water will likely mean a faster finish. Robert Youens, a member of Hansen’s support crew, predicts the top boats will reach Fort Morgan sometime during the day Thursday.

“Records are going to fall,” he said.

West Hansen looks on as Max Dugas helps during a fuel break on Day 4 of the Alabama 650. Photo by Rob Byrd

But who crosses first will depend on how long each team stops along the way. Hansen has been sleeping three or four hours each night. The racers strategically try to pass while their opponents are down. But it’s tricky – they need the rest to keep paddling.

Related: Day 3 of the Great Alabama 650

“It’s all going to be about sleep cycles from this point forward,” Youens said.

Before sunrise on Day 4 of the Great Alabama 650, the teams paddled under the storied Edmund Pettis Bridge, the site of the brutal beatings of civil rights marchers during the 1965 march for voting rights. They glided through early morning fog, but the rain is less widespread today. Highs Wednesday and Thursday are predicted to hover in the 70s.

Challenges on Day 4 of the Great Alabama 650

Hansen’s support crew is treating the paddler for chafing on the butt and, more severely, his back. “It’s ugly,” Youens said. “But on a scale of 10, with 10 being out of the race, this is a six.”

Hansen is also has a blister on his right hand. His team scrubbed him down in the shower last night. “He’s physically challenged right now but mentally there,” Youens said.

The race includes portages that the support crews ferry the racers around. Hansen rides with support crew member Max Dugas during those stretches.

“We talk about everything but the race,” Dugas said. “His mental game is on.”

Who will win?

Hansen’s paddling resume is extensive. He led an expedition down the entire Amazon River in 2012 and the entire Volga River two years later. He’s finished the Texas Water Safari, a 260-mile race from Spring Lake in San Marcos to the Texas coast, 21 times, and has wins at the Missouri River 340.

“I have good feelings about West achieving his goal of finishing before Salli. I feel good about it,” Youens said.

But they’re not done yet. The race ends with a slog through a massive tidal delta, where the paddlers will face slack water and a long, wind-exposed swathe of water.