It all kicked off in the swimming pool

[Poppystone]

Session times have changed because of the school holidays. There's no lane swimming during the day, only general swimming, which is making the early morning and evening swimming very busy.

My friend is a big man, well over six ft (ie takes up a lot of space) and a very good swimmer. He's gone into the fast lane and done his thing. There were two women also there swimming much too slowly for the fast lane. The target times for a length are published, so fast is not subjective, although they didn't appear to be aware of this.

Anyway they've objected and said they think he's very rude to be ploughing up and down. He thinks that's what the fast lane's for....

In that case, it also isn’t his place to plough in to them.

I'm sure it isn't his job to barrel into other swimmers either. I think we can be certain with what he did that he wasn't concerned it wasn't his place, he just thought he would just barge everyone out of his way if he doesn't deem them fast enough.

No, I would agree with that.

I missed that he'd done that. No, barging is not appropriate.

As long as hes swimming up and down but keeping to the sides of the lane....not like the arsehole who swam directly in the centre, nearly drowning me whenever he passed. The life guard stopped him and pointed out the board showing how to swim in the right direction so others could swim safely opposite you ,but oh no, he had to have it exactly as he wanted, as obviously he owned that lane 🤬....one of the few times i wished I wasnt a 5 foot woman, and I was a big 6 foot man who could crash into him head first and not come out the loser......

‘Silly’ women getting in his way so he uses his physicality to intimidate and dominate. And then storm off like a sulky toddler. Even if they were in the wrong lane he is still a dick.

Whats more disappointing is the amount of people on this thread rushing to condemn women in favour of the man. Tale as old as time - man gets upset so women are automatically to blame. 🙄

What, you mean like him shouting "Get Out Of The Way!" at them? I've had that experience before.😂

I wonder what his driving is like. Anyway, as the OP says, there is no assigned fast lane at that time of day.

Where did I say that? The whole issue is that they were all in the fast lane.

I don't do lane swimming. So I find it a bit of a nuisance. But those two women shouldn't have been in the fast lane. But there's fast and fast. Maybe he was an Olympic swimmer in which case he was a bit unreasonable.

Making contact out of frustration can mean a lot of things though.

When I was younger and faster I used to swim 1km each lunchtime and I used to play a game with the AH men that wouldn’t move out of the fast lane. I used to give them an increasing headstart then sprint after them and try to touch their toes before the end of the lane.

I was unreasonable but it was fun and it meant I got a decent sprint workout!

They shouldn’t have been in the fast line if they were swimming slowly, but maybe they didn’t realise? Where was the lane? In our local pool, they once put the fast lane right by the edge of the pool, which didn’t work, as less able/less confident swimmers use that lane. Could it be some confusion like that?

Also, was your fast swimmer friend doing butterfly? If he was, he was definitely BU because every single man I’ve seen doing butterfly literally ploughs into other swimmers and doesn’t even look to see if his way is clear.

I remember swimming with two other women in a normal lane (not fast) and a big man walked in and just launched himself into the lane, knocking one of the other women to the side, making the other woman have to stop and press herself against the side of the pool so he didn’t plough into her, then he got the the deep end where I was and flipped round to turn, kicking me right in the face. No apologies, no care whatsoever. I doubt he’d have done that in a lane with men in.

I hope you all remonstrated with him??

If he’s a reasonable swimmer like he seems to think he is, slow swimmers are actually fairly easy to navigate. It only takes a few meters to overtake them and scoot back in to fit the lane direction. Easier to swim together than with swimmers who are only a few meters difference over the 25.

Lifeguard should be proactively sorting this issue, that’s part of their job. I’m a small woman and I do find larger guys who are usually faster intimidating whether that’s swimming, cycling, at gigs or just busy streets. Quite often they don’t even see me and I get pushed out of the way (unintentionally).

Yeah, I used to do it to make a point - as in, let me past! I have a languid but efficient stroke and good stamina and I am faster than I look. When I was younger it was very rare that a slower man would let me pass.

I now live in Aus and would classify myself as “medium” fast rather than “fast” fast here. There are so many good casual swimmers. My children were all doing junior squads by about 8 years and could swim 1-2km, this was entirely normal. Their technique for all the strokes is so much better than mine.

I am lucky now to live somewhere with multiple, clean outdoor training pools, heated just enough that they are fine for winter. I swam 3.5km today without sharing a lane - bliss!

And at some point we might all be the faster or slowest swimmer in a lane. At that point you have to behave sensibly which includes overtaking carefully, or letting others go ahead at the end of the lane, or moving lanes. I’ve never seen timing speeds indicated at a pool, just fast, medium, slow and a free lane. it’s usually relative to who is in each one. The worst behaviour I’ve seen is a group of three who swam in a train and never considered anyone else. Very rude too.

Another element to this is the size of the pool. I joined a gym that had a small pool and fast lane swimming is awful in it. I stopped going in the end sick of being kicked, splashed in the eyes (foot plonker - his swimming style created a geyzer) and crashed into. Some pushers off would swim along the floor of the pool which freaked me out as well!!!

This thread has reminded me why I don’t go swimming.

😂 yes definitely

There is
OP has Clarified

There were no young people - I used to go at 7am, mostly it was middle aged people or older and the occassional student.
I'm not complaining about everyone, just the dfficulties faced in swimming pools!
If I went in the lanes there were often faster swimmers so I felt like I was in their way. If I went in the general area I had pootlers like the above.

I think swimming pools are places of rage. There are so many things that can get people’s backs up: swimming in the wrong lane, not letting people overtake you and swimming backstroke and bumping into people. My favourite hate is aggressive men who swim one lane at a really fast past but then are exhausted so then stop or swim slowly.
I haven’t been for a while but at our pool, there used to be 4 lanes 1 slow, 2 medium and 1 fast. Depending on the time of day and the age of people in the pool, I think speeds vary in these lanes. Surely if you get in and everyone else is swimming faster than you, you just move diown a lane. If they are swimming slower you move up a lane.

This.

I'm annoyingly inbetween lane capabilities, so I'm well aware of how frustrating it is to be stuck with slower swimmers but I have NEVER invaded someone's space.

Fast swimmers are usually only in for 30m - I recommend the latter half of the session because everyone rushes in at the start.

But you should NEVER make contact deliberately with another swimmer. Your friend sounds like a cunt for doing that on purpose.

It is true that man spreading exists everywhere including a swimming pool. All men’s sports generally take up far more space than women’s. Hello golf and football at the park. It just adds to their entitled expectations.

I've worked in swimming pools and seen this play out hundreds of times the women are probably spot on being in the fast lane he's just much much faster stronger and bigger than they are. If the lanes are crowded and everyone's getting pushed over he can't have the fast lane all to himself just because he's a big strong man. At the pool I worked at he'd have been told to behave himself slow down or leave