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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to stick to swimming lane etiquette (light-hearted)

64 replies

Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 20:17

I am bemused by an exchange with a fellow swimmer this evening and wondering whether this is normal...

I was half way through my set this evening, swimming clockwise as specified by the lane signage, when a lady got in and started swimming directly at me. I thought she’d correct her positioning, so kept swimming slowly, but she didn’t budge. I stopped, smiled and the exchange went something like this:

Me: “oh, it’s the other way round”
Her: “can we just do it this way?”
Me: [puzzled, checking the signage] “this is a clockwise lane”
Her: [irritated] “I know, but can we just stick to our own sides?”
Me: [even more confused] “well, it’s the fast lane for swimming laps. There are other people around”
Her: “not in this lane. It’s perfectly easy for me to have this side and you to stay on that side”
Me: [not articulating myself well due to continued puzzlement] “no, we’re meant to swim laps”

She then moved to the medium lane, asked the (much more leisurely swimming) lady in that lane if they could swim side by side. Said lady agreed, so I got a death stare to hammer home my unreasonableness.

I wish I’d been able to articulate all the reasons why it was a mad idea:

  • It’s not normal and I’m programmed to swim laps, so I will forget and bump into you, particularly swimming backstroke
  • lanes alternate direction specifically so you’re not swimming alongside people for too long, with the risk of clattering arms etc.
  • it would effectively exclude anyone else from swimming in the lane
  • I can’t tumble turn if I have to stick to half a lane

This was weird, right?

OP posts:
CabbagesGreen · 17/08/2021 20:19

Yes very odd that she'd get so funny about it.

NapoleonOzmolysis · 17/08/2021 20:19

Weird. YANBU.

Findahouse21 · 17/08/2021 20:21

If you can tumble turn then you have god like status in my eyes and can do as you choose

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 20:28

@Findahouse21

If you can tumble turn then you have god like status in my eyes and can do as you choose
😂 I’m not as good as I used to be 20 years ago when contemplating a sporting career. Bizarrely, I can’t quite work out what to do with my arms anymore and regularly clatter my rings against the metal steps.
OP posts:
PandoraP · 17/08/2021 20:32

I think if you are only two people in the lane I am often asked to just stick to a side each and I am fine with that. Also ok to stick to the rules of course.

JaninaDuszejko · 17/08/2021 20:33

It's fairly common in my local pool if there is just two in the lane to take a side each. Doesn't bother me either way.

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 20:37

I didn’t know it was a thing. I’ve never come across it, despite being pretty prolific.

Why, though? What advantages does it have that I’m not seeing?

OP posts:
Cosybelles · 17/08/2021 20:37

Well, it was ok for her to ask but a strange suggestion for all of your (excellent) reasons. When you declined, she should have accepted it! Someone asked me this recently and I was so surprised that I said yes, but it was a pain, for the reasons you listed.

eurochick · 17/08/2021 20:40

This is pretty common in any pool I have used if there are only two of you. It means no overtaking and is generally more pleasant. It goes back to laps if someone else gets in.

Angelik · 17/08/2021 20:49

Depends on Lane size as to workability. But she asked (eventually), you said not for you and that should've been end of it! The rules are there so everyone knows how to behave. Only time I don't follow is when everyone fucks off three quarters way through session so very unlikely anyone starting and I have when Lane to myself BLISS! what pisses me off is fast swimmers, ignoring rules and swimming up and down middle of Lane and/or forcing everyone to let them go first at end of Lane in a Lane TOO SLOW FOR THEM!!!!!

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 20:52

I just turn around and swim back the other way if I catch someone up and there’s only 2 of us in the lane. No need for overtaking. Does confuse my length counting sometimes though!

OP posts:
Queenoftheashes · 17/08/2021 20:53

Yabu. It’s super annoying when there’s only two of you and the other person insists on going round and round. As PP said it means you don’t need to worry about overtaking.

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 21:00

Ho hum. I’ll go back to my late night, lane to myself swimming so I can’t annoy or be annoyed.

Or build my own pool...one day!

OP posts:
Goldrill · 17/08/2021 21:07

Yep: definitely the done thing here too. It's a lot easier if you're doing short sets, surely? Nothing worse than doing 10 x 50 or something and being always nearly catching up or setting off in front of someone.
I have no problem tumbling in a half lane but can be a bit unpredictable on where I come up in backstroke!

PS are you a masters swimmer?

ShinyMe · 17/08/2021 21:13

People ignoring the lane rules do my head in! They're not hard! Just stick to the rules and don't be a dick!

The other day I (accidentally) kicked a lady in the face, because she was ahead of me, stopped at the end and waved me to go past her as I was going slightly faster than her. Then as I was about a metre away from the edge, only just starting my new lap, she decided to launch herself into her lap anyway, and swam straight into my feet. When I turned round, she was all "you should be going faster!"

My least favourites are the very splashy men who can't do their splashy crawl in their side of the lane, leaving you space to pass them the other way, but need to take the middle of the lane, so you have to dodge round them by swimming right up against the wall.

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 21:16

I don’t do short sets, I typically swim 2k continuously, alternating strokes. I was a fly specialist, so I do often include it if the pool isn’t busy. I can readily avoid people I’m passing and will ease off so I don’t splash, but arm clattering with people in adjacent lanes is a genuine concern.

I’m not a masters swimmer, but I’m seriously considering it and trying to build up to a point where I wouldn’t be embarrassed! I went from world potential at 14, to nothing for 20 years and have been building up my fitness again.

OP posts:
HavelockVetinari · 17/08/2021 21:17

YANBU at all - it basically means no-one else can swim in that lane. Excellent for the 2 people in it, shite for everyone who has to squash up once it gets even a tiny bit busy.

Don't do it!

ItsReallyOnlyMe · 17/08/2021 21:22

It's always the done thing where are swim - if there are two if you, it's a side each and it's so much better.

TabbyStar · 17/08/2021 21:23

This is pretty common in any pool I have used if there are only two of you. It means no overtaking and is generally more pleasant. It goes back to laps if someone else gets in.

Same at my gym. Swimming laps with someone going a different pace is grim, you have to be constantly aware of them rather than tuning out and just swimming. I have sometimes interrupted people though to be the third swimmer and go back to laps when no other space.

Goldrill · 17/08/2021 21:25

Masters is fab. Removes all the lane drama and there's almost always someone faster than you to aim to keep pace with. And there is almost always some kind of shindig after a meet so good excuse for a night away!

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 21:33

@Goldrill

Masters is fab. Removes all the lane drama and there's almost always someone faster than you to aim to keep pace with. And there is almost always some kind of shindig after a meet so good excuse for a night away!
I will definitely look into it. My kids are still little, and I go out to swim when they are asleep, which is not an exact science.

I went swimming about an hour early today because DC are with my parents for a few days. Never again! Too many people.

There were also the men sitting chatting on the end of the flat beds in the jacuzzi , so nobody could use them. That’s the best bit of my swim!

OP posts:
MinnieMountain · 17/08/2021 21:36

It’s common where I swim, but I always agree it with the other person first. We automatically switch to the correct circuit if someone else gets in.

She was odd to try to insist like that though.

Aprilx · 17/08/2021 21:38

I think you were being a bit precious, with all the pointing back at the sign and pretending you don’t know what she means. It is perfectly normal for two people to take a side each when they are the only two in the lane. I find it very difficult to believe you haven’t come across this before.

Original poster
Anonandonandonandon · 17/08/2021 21:40

I genuinely had no idea what she meant! I have never come across this.

OP posts:
Goldrill · 17/08/2021 21:45

I started with masters when my kids were little because the sessions for my local one were late evening, so it fitted in well. I had similar gap to you, by the sound of it - think you get a lot of people reappearing at that point!
First meet since lockdown in a few weeks and I'm just deciding if I'm brave enough to enter and see how far from my pbs I am now!