To say you don’t swim backstroke when the pool is busy

[CatWeekly]

Just as the title suggests, went swimming today and one man was doing backstroke every other length of the pool. He didn’t look where he was going at all and just expected everyone else to get out of his way. He had several glancing blows where he hit people but never stopped.

So YABU, he was perfectly within his rights to do backstroke in a busy pool.
YANBU he was a selfish wanker.

Nothing to do with the stroke, and everything to do with the person.
I'd rather swim with a considerate back stroker than the selfish that doing front crawl who just wouldn't let me past - and if I turned half way through a length to "overtake" he would wait at the end, and set off just infront of me again.

YANBU this person sounds like they are incredibly selfish. I swim a couple of times a week in the pool and also try and get a wild swim in at the weekend. For my pool swims I go in the slow lane and stick to front crawl and breaststroke.

Everytime I go to the pool there is always at least 1 older man that decides to dive/belly flop in, do 1 length full pelt then sit at the end of the pool getting his breath back and doing another length at full pelt, which apparently must involve a lot of aggressive splashing and huffing. Drives me mad!!! I have tried going for a swim at different times but work makes that difficult. Also.. don't get me started on male entitlement in the health suite 🤬

Why? You can swim any syorkw you like

I can swim backstroke in a lane with no problems, ex club swimmer. If you are a rec swimmer who can't swim a straight line, follow lane etiquette and speed then no you shouldn't!

You’re right. Luckily don’t see it much where I swim. I only ever do backstroke if the lane is completely empty (bar me obviously!) as I always lose concentration at some point and end up on bumping into they ropes on the other side of the lane 😂

Lifeguard here. Lifeguard should have done something. Eg told him to move lanes

If it's a lane swim there shouldn't be a problem. If it's a recreational swim session then no he shouldn't be doing that.

Agree OP. I also get really annoyed at the young women doing slow breaststroke because they “can’t” put their face in the water, in the medium speed lane - because they don’t notice the 9 people trying to overtake ? Because they are embarrassed to swim in the slow lane?

People are rude and selfish.

Do you mean in a lane, op, or when it's a free for all? I lane swim (amateur, no training) and alternate backstroke and breaststroke, but always space/ pace myself to avoid catching up with others. And I never backstroke in the main swimming area, where there are parents and babies etc.

The thing that annoys me is those who just sort of slowly float in the swimming lanes rather than use the quieter public side of the pool. And people who just stop and talk at the end of the lane for aaaaages, so I have to stop short of a full length.

The lifeguards at my pool are really good at instilling pool etiquette though, so there's very rarely any issues. And most people are very courteous.

Terrible if he was hitting people and not apologising!
What kind of swimming session was it? Lane swimming or not? I think backstroke is only ok in a lane swimming session when the pool isn't really busy.
I was swimming with my DD on a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, pool full of families with inflatables in half of it and one man was determinedly swimming lengths! I couldn't understand why on earth you would go swimming on a Saturday afternoon if you want to do lengths! And I know maybe he worked all week but there are lane swimming sessions early Saturday morning and for the last hour in the evening

Yanbu, what a stroker

Backstroke when swimming in lanes is ok, as long as you match your speed to others in the slow, medium or fast lanes, but not during busy sessions or lengths during family swim time.

We have a guy at our local pool who is also oblivious, has no idea of personal space and is a total dick in the lane swim. I think he's trying to channel his inner michael phelps, but thrashes around looking like he's drowning. There's always one 🙄

This was a casual after school swim session. There were two lanes available at one side of the pool but he wanted to swim at the other side of the pool. I was supervising my dd who can swim lengths but is still learning. She prefers to be near a side though doesn’t need to stop mid length. I shouted “watch out behind” so loud everyone else in the pool stopped and stared but he just ploughed on. I know this is a drip feed but just wanted general opinions on back stroke in a busy pool rather then how one should behave when sharing the pool with children learning to swim.

OP I think general rules apply for casual swim - awareness of those around you and "don't be a dick".

In fact those can be applied to pretty much any situation.