Swimming lane etiquette

At the leisure centre where I am a member, it's a maximum of 12 to a lane. But the standard 25m pool is split into 3 lanes overall (so double normal width). 1 medium, 1 fast and 1 slow.

14 per lane?! Unless the pool is 50 meters that’s beyond insane and borderline dangerous.

My swimming club (yes I am that sad) is 6 per lane. 25 meter pool. Any more than that and the lifeguards can’t properly watch everyone + it makes the water to choppy…

I wouldn’t touch a pool with 14 people in one lane.

I'm super conscientious about stopping at the ends to give way as I hate to hold people up, but it is sometimes hard, at least at my level of experience, to tell whether someone is getting held up by you or just happens to be doing a similar pace. I'm rubbish at judging my own pace or anyone else's and not very consistent in my own speed.

And yes some people are unnecessarily nasty about it. I once got it wrong with someone swimming just a little behind me (I mistakenly thought he was a man that I'd given way to earlier only to find he was much slower than me, so I didn't want to repeat that) and rather than tap my feet he grabbed my leg forcefully and yelled at me which came very close to putting me off swimming. (I have a bit of a hate-hate relationship with swimming and was having one of those days when I feel I'm never going to improve so that was nearly the last straw!)

Most people are lovely about it though - they signal clearly if they want to pass and give you a smile when you do.

You can't dictate what stroke people choose to do. There can be all sorts of reasons why people need to do backstroke! But the all the shit described in this thread is exactly why I fucking hate swimming!

At my pool they make the slow lane extra wide so it has room for 3 people - you can then have an up, down and overtaking lane.

However I can no longer go at a certain time slot as it's populated by 2 older ladies , they either swim side by side or one in front doing a sort of backwards walk swim and one forwards all whilst having a chat. Every single time I have seen them. I used to just get so wound up.

I also tend to go at around 11am or 3pm now as it’s nice and quiet

I don't like toe tapping. Etiquette is switch as the ends, yes occasionally some are oblivious to how much they have they've been slowing you up. Constant mid lane overtaking is annoying. Its usually someone who should ge in a faster lane but your lane is less crowded- grrr. I love an off peak empty lane swim!

When I went on Monday there was just me and one other swimmer in whole pool -
me in fast lane her in slow. Just before the lunchtime rush seems to be the sweet spot !

Proper etiquette is for the slower swimmer to stop at the end of the lane so that the other person can take over. It’s super annoying when folks don’t stop and remain oblivious, so you’re stuck behind them. But that relies on being honest about your pace which it doesn’t sound like she was. I find men usually overestimate and make a thing of being faster than women which is stupid. They wouldn’t act like that if you were out for a run. It’s also in the rules that you can gently tap on someone’s toes if they haven’t noticed you but let me tell you, people don’t like that 😂 again men also take this too far and I’ve had guys scratch my feet and yank at them. I wish this was an over exaggerated but it’s not.

I’ve been asked to do this by a couple of men recently and it’s been awesome!

I hate it when people ask me to do that.
For some reason it stresses me out a lot.
I'm a bit of a rule follower, plus it is hard for someone else to join the lane, plus I like turning round the same direction at each end.

I'll happily wait at the end to let someone a bit faster than me past.

14? Oh my!

When I got out of our 25m pool today there were only 4 of us in it! Not the lane... the whole pool!

14 in a lane is a LOT,

I've only really seen that actually happen in club swimming where you have an order and mostly stick to it as the coach knows pretty well the speed people can swim at over a long period of time.

Is that max capacity? How many were actually in the lane?

If I have someone slower than me in my lane I'll often swim 50s and push off just as they are on their way back to maximise distance between us.

I wonder if she was trying to overtake you for a while, then when she did deliberately went slow to annoy you? Still bad manners if so.

This is what I thought too. If someone is swimming close behind me then I assume they are waiting to overtake. There is nothing more frustrating than a slightly slower swimmer not stopping and I don't want to risk being that person 😬 I would rather just hang at the end for a bit and let them put a bit of space between us.

It's normal but poor etiquette. Men often do this when they get in the fast lane where there is already a woman. Then after 2 lengths they're flailing around unable to breathe like an injured salmon. If they're really pissing me off I choose the rage swimming option where I put in a hard 10 lengths and lap them a couple of times to truly wound their egos, but otherwise I try to take a karmic approach to the lane swimming idiots.

At my club, although the lane rule is as @Feelingstrange2 describes, if there are only two of you we always take a side each of the lane and swim up and down it. It is much better that way as there is no issue with who’s slow/fast.

I wonder if she was trying to overtake you for a while, then when she did deliberately went slow to annoy you? Still bad manners if so.

Quite often I am behind someone for ages because I don't want to crash into them, but they don't realise that I'm swimming much slower than I'd like to and let me pass. It's generally the middle type lane that can be the worst; fast lane swimmers tend to know the etiquette and slow lane aren't too worried about overtaking at ends.

Sometimes, if I am stuck behind a slower swimmer who won't let me pass, I do a half lane and then switch over so I am then well in front of them, but never just in front of them. There are pools where overtaking mid lane can happen, these are wider lanes though so 3 people can pass by, not the standard narrow ones.

Lane and swim etiquette, and grumbles about fellow swimmers are what keeps it from being boring though during the session.

Etiquette. 3 max per lane. Up pool on left, back on right. Wait at the wall when there are faster swimmers. Faster swimmers ought then to only overtake if they are very sure of their ability to pass and not upset anyone else. Slower swimmers are waiting so faster should give something too. They are not god.

However, backstroke is not a sociable stroke to swim in a full lane. Wait until you have the lane to yourself one day.

I might be biassed because I hate backstroke - it only shows up my useless sense of direction, but I don't swim fly in a busy lane either as I don't think that's particularly sociable with others around as it tends to drown them.....maybe it would have been a good idea today tho! 😆

Tap on the foot to signal you are overtaking. Booking lanes based on speed is bonkers though. You should be able to change lanes on actual speed of the swimmers.

50/50 - backstroke in lanes is annoying. Not many people do it.

How ever she was being pretty dozy too.

You both could have just waited it out and then given the other one a head start. This is what I do if someone is tailing me. I agree It is incredibly frustrating when someone start just after you and is then on your heels though, she could have just waited and given you a length head start.

Also depends how many were in the lane and how experienced they are at lane swimming and judging speed of others. I find two or three fine, four bearable and 5 or 6 really annoying.

Someone -man- who was doggy paddling grabbed hold of me and obstructed at the deep end when I went to overtake at the end because he said I was rude and didn't ask him to . I'm sorry I can't speak underwater I'm not a mermaid.

In which case that's crap!

Good etiquette is for the slower swimmer to stop at the end of their next length and let the faster swimmer pass. If you hadn't done this, she might have thought you rude. Overtaking mid length is also rude, as is pushing off in front of an incoming swimmer (esp when you are slower).