Updates 

Hello fellow Ashevillians who love to swim! I hope this finds you well and please know that I miss seeing each of you!

Quick Pool News: Asheville School is using well water and their iconic water tower in limited areas on campus. They also lost their pool pump during the storm and a replacement is on order. When that is installed, which is TBD, they will need to reheat and chemically rebalance the water. I don’t anticipate that pool opening until they get City water back, but will be glad to be wrong.

Buncombe County Schools pool at TC Roberson High School will reopen when Buncombe County schools reopen and that is tbd, but will not likely happen any earlier than mid to late next week-and that is hopeful.🧘🏻‍♂️

The Hickory YMCA is open for swimming, the Kroc Salvation Army complex in Greenville, SC and the Greenville County Aquatic Complex both have laps swim hours and going there makes a nice half-day trip for a workout, laundry and maybe a meal!

I’ve heard from probably 85% of our attendance roster and no major injuries have been reported but there has been some property damaged.

Roslyn had a tree land on her house and Craik had a tree down on their shed and driveway. Jim Green saw hundreds of trees downed or snapped on his property and the main road up from Webb Cove/Town Mountain Roads near Blue Ridge Parkway–which is just up the slope from Bull Creek /Riceville area and it likely got hit by a tornado with thousands of trees down in that one section with no injuries there.

Our old friend Larry Hartley (who we’ve missed since Covid) had 4 feet of water in his house in Swannanoa, so that’s being rebuilt. Larry had a multi-day odyssey getting back from the coast to the Asheville area Friday through Sunday of storm weekend! He and his Spouse are staying with family locally.

Some folks where already away when Helene came and some bugged out for a while if able and all of us have learned how to survive with no electricity or Internet and how to schlep water from the creek-pond-spring or the local tanker truck by now, and it’s interesting to learn just how much water is needed to flush the toilet!

Or we’ve learned just how long fuel lasts in the generator or you’re fortunate that you have a permanently hooked up generator!

Please reach out if you need assistance or supplies of any kind and certainly we can figure this out in terms of getting you the help and assistance you may be needing. 

Adrienne and Misty’s most recent open water event, ‘Swim the Suck’ was canceled this year with the river flowing at over 90,000 ft.³ per second! Good call.

However, this weekend Misty Varnell and (our pool mate /her paddler) Laura Stuck are headed to Charleston for the 2024 Swim Around Charleston! This 12.5 mile adventure begins at 10 AM on Sunday, October 13!

And speaking of serious taper… Zero swimming or paddling for the last two weeks -but doing all kinds of other life things including stretch bands, dryland exercises, lifting supplies and offering emergency assistance or whatever the day requires and these two are ready to make it a great experience and a surprisingly awesome swim (and paddle)! That’s just how it’s gonna go. We wish them well!

If you find a pool that’s opened up please let me know and I’ll throw it on here, but Waynesville and Hendersonville likely have pools opening soon, as well as the local YMCAs or others.

Will be back together or at least seeing each other at another pool soon!