Territorial dispute in swimming pool

'saw she was there?'

how did he miss the ONLY OTHER PERSON in the whole pool? If his eyesight is so bad he didn't notice OP until she was inches from him he probably isn't safe to be swimming alone. How did he manage to locate the ladder to get in? Or the changing room when he's finished?

Also your ridiculous rationale doesn't even make sense. If he was so fond of lane 2 why didn't he get in there in the first place, instead of trying 3 different ones like an aquatic goldilocks?

People are absolutely grasping at straws to defend his behaviour.

It's really not that hard. If someone is already in one lane, and there are multiple others completely free, it's ridiculous and dick behaviour to go in the only occupied one.

Swimming under other swimmers has never been the norm in any pool I've swum or worked at, and when I was a lifeguard, I'd have been clear it wasn't acceptable if I saw it happening.

I was brought up that if you are lane swimming and there's a slower swimmer in front of you, you overtake them ar the end of the lane, which might mean you have to slow down till you get there. Of course, you do get some who seem completely oblivious to anyone else in the lane, even if you tap them on the ankle, but most of the time it works. It's definitely expected behaviour at my current pool, as they have a sheet of pool etiquette which used to be taped to the back if the lane dpeed/direction signs, though they seem to have disappeared recently. Think it's still on their website, but can't be bothered to check just now.

I've not been on this site long, but I am surprised by the amount of blokes on it. Are they Mums? Is there not a Dadsnet? Blokenet? Deadbeatdadnet?

My Gran told me, a long ime ago, that men do not like women talking to each other. Once you see that, you can't unsee it.

The OP was close to the man, she caught him up it says in her original post. So for this man to be called a pervert and wanting banning from the pool... Yeah I'd say that's pretty wild

Do you live in China?

The parts that confuse me are...

why is a public-access pool set up for lanes yet nearly empty at lunchtime? Doesn't sound like any pool attendant would make back their salary in time that only 2 of them were swimming.

How could OP see he was surprised if he was wearing googles? You need to see someone's eyes to tell if they are surprised. I can't see people's eyes when they have goggles on.

Why wouldn't he being wearing goggles when he swam underwater, did repeat lengths, including kicking off wall.

A lot of swimmers are blind in the pool (no expensive prescription goggles or damn things fog up) so that could explain him not expecting to see another swimmer. Or didn't realise OP was so fast.

A lot of pools don't allow any photos taken poolside.

Why would I make out he was swimming lengths underneath her? That would be wild. Why all the insistence of things being ‘wild’ on this thread? Again, I just don’t think a man getting into a pool with only one person in it, a woman, has any need to be close enough to need to swim underneath her.

His behaviour was unacceptable IMO. Trying to make you change lanes is rude, and I agree with you, that that is what he was trying to do. Swimming underneath you is completely unacceptable and I would make a complaint about that. I think that was intimidating behaviour.

You make it sound like be was doing lengths underneath the OP.

I read it as they met at the end of the lane and he then swam underneath her to get to the next lane. A couple of seconds tops.

The difference between what the OP posted and the scenarios posted after are wild

Ive actually just finished writing an email to my gym after yet another incident at my pool yesterday. And yes, it was men who were the problem.

Women can be fast or slow but generally work around each other and let each other pass at the end. Men come in, thrash around hog the middle of which ever lane they're in, frequently change lane and even swim underneath women who are swimming towards them. Yesterday I was actually hurt in the pool - still in pain today.

It comes down to misogyny - they don't do it to other men, and will always choose to share a lane with a woman rather than a man, even when the other man is their mate.

And the male lifeguards are like the 3 wise monkeys.

Gaslighting is a frequently misused term on MN, sadly.

I agree. This is not gas lighting at all. How odd that she thinks it is.

Disagreeing with someone is not gaslighting. Saying that I don't think this is a big deal does not mean I've an incel podcast. FFS! Not everyone is as dramatic as you.

Everyone doesn't know OPs anecdote is correct.
People are allowed to disagree with you or with OP, without you resorting to name calling.

'YetYeti · Today 17:34'

'I completely agree OP. I’m not sure why you’re having to justify this so much.'

Really? You're genuinely not sure?

@pestowithwalnuts @KrisAkabusi etc etc etc

Shit gaslighting. Really really bad. Very obvious, very lifted from your incel podcast. Or your little handmaiden guide.

OP he did it on purpose. Because you're a woman and he is a pathetic loser in life. Honestly I think we should be armed at this point. They would soon behave.

Everyone on the thread knows you're correct in your feelings about this and some will want to make it worse. It’s how they feel visible these days. Sad times.

Or he wasn’t expecting her speed and realised it wasn’t comparable with his speed so moved?

He can swim in whatever lane he wants even if it’s the only occupied one there if he wants that lane. The same way the original swimmer did just that because they also wanted that lane.

And the circle continues......

It was reasonable though.
You not realising that is also ok though.
Tschüss.

Why would he be surprised when she was the only other swimmer in the pool who had been there before he even got in - consistently swimming up and down in that lane? If he genuinely didn’t notice her then he’s still at fault for not looking?

Except it wasn’t necessarily.

The OP herself said he was surprised to see at swimming right at him so dived underneath and swam
into the adjacent lane.

For those saying ducking underneath her and moving was wrong - don’t think he should have just stayed there for her to swim directly into him - I’d find that aggressive and territorial.

He moved out the way. Even for MN it’s a reach to find the man in the wrong in this situation.

Wild take but… could he have changed lanes when she wasn’t about to reach the end of the lane, in which she’d been consistently swimming, so that he didn’t need to then swim directly underneath her?

He was a knob. My pool can be busy but you will always get splashy aggressive men, man spreaders at the end of the pool, dick doing a butterfly with no regard for anyone else etc. They also hate it when women are faster than them. It’s kind of funny. I also saw in my pool sauna a male facing the seat area, holding the middle of three rows (so using three spaces) doing a weird thrusty grunty squat ‘exercise’. Mostly why I switched pool to ladies’ sea swimming.

That is a wild take on a guy changing lanes.

Unless a fin was spotted.

People can change lanes if they want. It's not like he crashed into her.

I’ve read it all. I don’t agree that it was reasonable. That’s ok.