To create my own lane

For me the issue is reasonably fit men are a lot faster than me by virtue of being bigger and therefore dominate the vast lane. As a reasonably fit woman, I'm in the middle lane with everyone who doesn't want to go at a snail's pace but many of whom are just there to do 30 lengths at a very steady pace. I imagine if I swam in a pool in a city with a younger, gym-going demographic this might be less of a frustration.

I said what I meant.

The “did you mean to?” head tilt and tinkly laugh doesn’t work on me, sorry 😆

@OriginalUsername2 or, those slow swimmers are just selfish and hold everyone else up.

Or did you mean to say, swimmers of any speed who don’t take account of anyone else are a PITA?

Those fast lane swimmers think they own the place.

Someone on here had their arm broken quite recently by someone swimming into them at the pool. I think you are being unreasonable.

Fast and slow depends on who is there.

I did a women’s only session once and ended up in the fast lane. But then in the open for everyone lane swimming I’m normally middle lane.

If I swim with my head above water which sometimes I do if I want a more chilled swim then I’m slow lane.

I also don’t understand how someone can zigzag???

Swimming is a minefield! I never go in the lanes unless there's nobody else in and get out as soon as someone else gets in as I'm in fear of swimming incorrectly.

I CAN put my face in the water. Why would I pay more for goggles when I can just wear my glasses? 🤔

Totally understand the frustration - but lane etiquette isn't taught to casual swimmers and most leisure centre sites (at least the ones near me) just say, "please observe lane etiquette" without telling us what it is. I know I'm a slow swimmer so I go in the slow lane - but even if I was faster, I'd be confused as to what "lane etiquette" actually is, aside from "don't divebomb, don't drag anyone under and the pool is not a place to stand and chat".

Soooo many typos - sorry 😂

I light of your updates OP I don't think you were unreasonable at all!

The pool management ate unreasonable for not using lane ropes.

Bit the most unreasonable of all is zigzagman - swim in a straight line FFS!

I'm a triathlete, and those who have failed to learn proper sighting technique and cannot swim straight in a race give me the rage 😡

To be honest public sessions are a bit of a free for all. When I was a club swimmer we had up to 6 in a lane in grotty school pools doing 5k+ per session including all the strokes, and everything was pretty much like clockwork (, except for fly of course) .
Everyone knew exactly what everyone else was going to do and no one got in anyone's way.
Then when I quit I started going to public sessions occasionally and it was just chaos, the worst one was people would wait at the corner of the lane, I would go in for my tumble turn and they would literally scoot across just as I was arriving. Or they would set off slowly about 2 seconds before I came in for a turn. After a while I realised that's just what public sessions are like, people don't have a clue about what swimming club lane etiquette is they are just there to get in a few lengths and have a splash about.

To be honest if you have bad eye sight and autism I'd recommend just fitting in with what other people are doing where possible. I realise it can be hard though!

Just read the signs. It can't be impossible.

Pool is unreasonable for not creating 3 lanes using ropes.

I’ve always found that people leave a gap for you to turn, particularly in the fast lane where flip turns are the norm, and you might be doing timed lengths. Even in the slower lanes they still move aside.
Maybe I am just lucky to swim with considerate people, or maybe I’m happy to do a bit of give and take so that everyone enjoys their pool time.

Asking them to move means stopping to do so though. It's really bad etiquette to block the end of a busy lane by chatting.

As a competitive swimmer and teacher - yes it does - most isn’t everybody. And it’s not fair if you have to stop each time because some one wants to chat in the fast lane. Most people shouldn’t even be in the fast lane tbh.

If you want to chat move to a different area

The steps surely need to be kept clear to allow people to access the pool, hence they have not put a lane in that section. Swimming up and down there means there is no longer a clear entry/exit.

The swimming pool at my gym is divided in half and one half is divided in two lanes medium and fast. The other half is for walkers and slow swimmers.

Most people are considerate enough to stand to the edge of the lane whilst having a chat though. That doesn't disrupt anyone's flow - you swim at the space on the wall and use that to turn, you don't need the full width of the lane. It is rare there isn't space to turn at all IME. It can make tumbling tricky if you aren't super precise executing them, but I prefer not to tumble in shallow water any way (our pool is 0.9m at that end) and an open turn in its place is no stress.
If they are blocking it, then ask them to move every time. If you stand, turn and swim off 2m from the wall every time, they'll assume you're fine with it.

After diagram - pool was being unreasonable not to have ropes.

I swim in normal contacts and goggles. Always swap contacts for glasses straight after swim. Prescription goggles would be better but not affordable at my prescription. Easylikeasundaymorn has a good description of how lanes normally work.

Why don’t you just ask a life guard where you should be swimming? They will tell you we’re your supposed to be.