To not want to get splashed in the face whilst swimming

[IKnowImAGrump]

Went for what was supposed to be a nice, leisurely and peaceful swim at 9pm on a Friday night and yet again some inconsiderate twat gets in and starts hammering from one side of the pool to the other, arms and legs flapping about everywhere and splashing me all over the face and hair (I'm doing breaststroke) every time he shoots past me. I even said "EXCUSE ME!" hoping he'd move across (he had room I didn't).

Yes it's a pool and yes you get wet, it doesn't mean you should put up with other people disturbing you with their fucking splashy, watery presence.

People are cunts.

OP are you the woman in my local pool with her hair piled in an elegant bun on her head, full face of makeup, gold dangly earrings and a cloud of anais anais?

She gets splashed too.

From this thread I'm glad I only go swimming a few times a year max.
I'm not a confident swimmer. I can do crawl but splash when I do it. I can't do breaststroke but wish I could. It looks more efficient and like you could do some great lengths in it. Instead the whole swimming experience is one big self conscious mess because I've felt judged for not being as elegant or confident (and now I know from this thread that people will have been because my splash might have hit their hair).

I use the slow lane because I'm slow and i thought it was the slow lane, not the 'breaststroke only if you can swim neatly like a lady' lane. Now I know (and maybe that's why other fellow non confident slightly splashy swimmers arent in the pool too)

I feel laughing and being annoyed at other swimmers splashing (unless its people clearly in the wrong speed lane) would be like someone turning up to football and being laughed at for not kicking it properly or going to a running club and being mocked and judged for not being able to keep in a line during drills.

You're doing your flapping, let other people do their swimming.

OP - I am with you - happened to me last week but it was a splashy lady. Everyone else in the pool was having a peaceful time swimming breaststroke incompetently but none of us were disturbing the others. Then madam gets in to the middle lane of 5 - and there's a tidal wave with the wash from the arms. I felt she was a poor swimmer - so yes could do front crawl which is more than me but couldnt do it properly. But me not swimming properly does not impact others adversely and that is the point to this thread. HeWBVU.

umm i front crawl without my face in the water, is that what you mean?

i just move my face from side to side, i cant hold my breath and do the 1-2-3-breathe thing

I actually want to learn to do head-out-of-water front crawl, because it's the recommended stroke for life-saving

The lady idea was 100% not practising life saving skills

*I saw. When is this forum ever going to leave the noughies and allow editing? 😩

Is it just a British thing to swim with your face out of the water? I've never seen it anywhere else!

So, he's swimming in the way he likes best, and you're swimming in the way you like best.
But his is wrong?

Correct. Because I'm not getting in anyone's way or being inconsiderate and he's being a selfish twat! So many people aren't getting it. Yes you get wet but there's a difference between getting wet and someone drenching your entire head and water shooting into your mouth / eyes without warning.

Also for the record at that time of night there are no lanes, just one divider split down the middle so the pool is in two parts. On the left are people with young ish kids having a last half hours play and lifeguards taking out inflatables etc. On the right are the adults. I'm sticking close to the divider, he is bang in the middle so you can't get away from the mess he's making - instead of moving across to the edge like anyone would do if they weren't such an irritating CUNT!

Also you don't need to stick your head underwater to swim properly. I've lost a stone and toned up partly through swimming... so I am doing something right.

Now a decent swimming pool AIBU would be wanting it to be law people wear swimming caps. Nothing grimmer than someone swimming with long loose hair flowing and then getting a random long hair wrapped around your fingers

greenlanes
Why is she a madam?

Is there a list of rules that says 'thou must only do breaststroke or an approximation of breastroke' or a sign saying 'can we remind all humans in this large body of water that no splashes at all shall be tolerated'.
(Don't get the middle lane of 5 thing. If she was in the wrong lane that's on her)

Good on her for.still going swimming in my eyes. Many of us who aren't strong swimmers have already been put off trying to get any better because out.presence in pools offends some of the ladies.

Also - I don't wear make up when swimming but yes my hair is in a high bun!

I’d understand it if there were people doing running bombs into your path, but this is nothing more than a man doing front crawl, in a swimming lane of all places. Yes it does create a bit of a splash, unless you’re technically perfect, but guess what, most people aren’t. Just like you with your head up, dry hair breastroke technique.

The man swimming undermeath people is cracking me up 😂😂😂
Yes op yab ridiculous

DH swims like this. Makes me want to stab him. He thinks he's all graceful and fish-like. He's not.

Sweaty - like what? Is he a splasher or a non splasher?

I actually want to learn to do head-out-of-water front crawl, because it's the recommended stroke for life-saving. You go reasonably fast, but can still see what's happening around you. But I can't do it for the life of me.

We do it as a drill (not sure why) at our swimming club. Having your head up makes your legs sink so you have to kick harder and it makes it all very inefficient, so it’s really hard to go fast for more than a couple of lengths.

People are not doing it on purpose they are exercising.

Nearly always not on purpose...

Not swimming in the right speed lane otoh should be banned. As well as doing backstroke and butterfly in shared lanes

Agree with this. If you time it right at my pool, you can sometimes get a lane to yourself (sadly, the council does not seem to realise that this is how it should be whenever I fancy a swim.) Then it's fine to do backstroke or fly.

We have one bloke who goes up and down at the same pace, never stopping at the ends. This would be fine if he weren't slower than most people, or had awareness to let the people swimming at his toes overtake at the end. I've never quite given into the temptation to kick wide when passing him, but I've definitely thought about it.

There was a bloke the other day who was really slapping his hands down onto the water while doing crawl - if he just angled his hand slightly when he enters the water, his stroke would be far more efficient and probably faster and definitely less splashy.

Many moons ago, when I did lifeguard in training, we learnt to do front crawl with heads up - it means you can keep your casualty in sight as you approach, which you couldn't with normal crawl. It just takes a bit of practice.

I do think if people want to keep their heads dry, the swimming pool is the wrong place to go. (Yes, aquafit class, I am looking at half of you lot. If you're not splashing, you're not working hard enough.) It's a swimming pool. The whole point is to get wet.

Ladies with neatly coiffed hair, perfume and make-up inching along doing breast stroke are unreasonable.

Tidal wave, clumpy front crawl men are unreasonable.

I like swimming other than the other people. I have that awkward pace that is too fast for a medium lane and too slow for the fast lane and feel like I'm constantly in the way or held up.

When I learnt at adult lessons, by the time I progressed to lengths, I would regularly incur the wrath of ladies what breast stroke with immaculate hair and make-up. They thought I should swim against the edge... except they would stand there chatting for 5 minutes between widths, and get annoyed that I'd be going up and down lengths trying to avoid their occasional forrays to the other side of the pool. That session was the only one where I could go to get my DoE signed off and the instructors agreed that I may as well carry on as I was as anything I did would inevitably be wrong by their standards.

Turning to front crawl breathe and getting a throat full of splashy man tidal wave is annoying.

MaisyPops - largish pool used by only adult hotel and spa guests and leisure users. Unroped off lanes but marked to the base of the pool - so everyone had a large lane to themselves for swimming up and down and there were spares. No one was training for anything or in a club - it was all casual swimmers. Madam comes to the middle of the pool and starts her intense splashy stroke. There was such a difference in intensity. My view was that she knew what she was doing and wanted to clear the pool a bit. If she was a thoughtful person - she would have joined the pool to one side. Yes she couldnt swim brilliantly but neither could the rest of us, yet we didnt think it necessary to disturb others. That is why I referred to her as madam. It's not actually for me so much the splashy - it is the unpredictable wave of water that i dont like.

So I did get out from my lovely swim and clearly karma was waiting for me. I went to the lovely sauna and was yacked at by some woman. Heard her entire life story in 15 minutes. That is also a good strategy to clear a room!

Oh he's a splasher IKnowImAGrump. Only he'd bet good money that he's not.

Chatters also piss me off. A couple of months ago there were four teenage girls yapping away and doing absolutely fuck all when the lanes were up. They got evils.

I go to the pool rather than with a friend for that reason. If you're going for a swim - fucking swim.

*alone

YABU for expecting to not get wet in a swimming pool. Lmao.