Territorial dispute in swimming pool

[tamade]

I am lucky enough to have a proper lunch break and at least three times a week I go to a nearby hotel and swim a mile, sometimes 2km.

Today I was alone in the pool and started swimming in lane two (of four) which is one lane away from the side closest to the changing rooms entrance. About 30 min later a man got in and stated to swim in lane 1. Five minutes after that he changed into my lane. I caught up with him at the far end and when he turned he looked at me swimming toward him and seemed surprised (surprised I hadn't moved lanes?). He then kicked off the wall and swam beneath me and under the lane divider into lane three. Not long after I finished up and went to get changed. Before exiting I looked back and sure enough he had moved back into lane two, which I presume is "his". And based on that I believe that he was trying to claim lane 2 when he initially moved in.

He is another regular I have seen him coming as I am going although we don't usually use the pool at the same time.

I think this is knobish behaviour

But he didn’t. He have you space form his preferred when he realised you were quicker and then moved back.

Why didn’t you go straight into lane 3 invade lane 2 was someone else’s preferred lane?

answer - because that’s the lane you prefer.

You are seriously overthinking this and I’ve seen and experienced proper poor lane etiquette in the past.

No, not always men. Last time I went swimming I started in the slow lane. Waited for someone already established to finish their length and kicked off. couple of seconds later a woman who was waiting at the side got right in front of me and was at snail's pace. Could have waited for me to pass but no. Felt entitled to be at near stopping pace right in front of me.

Also right at the end of the lane it is predominantly women who stand arms wide blocking the end of the lane.

So arseholes can come with both vagina and penis attached.

I'm not a lane swimmer so wouldn't know of this is normal eticate, but why did he swim beneath you? That sounds like an uncomfortable situation?

Rubbish. It's not 'men'. I gave birth to two of them that I adore but who happen not to be twats.

If he had been minding his own lane instead of encroaching on the OPs there would have been no issue. It's not men who are the issue it's arrogant arseholes.

I have already explained to you directly in a PP that is not why I included the observation about him returning to lane 2 after I left (spoiler: I couldn't give a tinker's cuss). You are being deliberately obtuse.

It's actually more common than you think, as I've stated several times.

Ohhhhh.

The penny drops.

I think you're maybe being a bit obtuse actually OP.

I used to lane swim 9hrs a week but before that I was a runner (never on pavements or next to roads, always disused railway lines converted to footpaths, canal footpaths and routes over stiles etc) and I am still a cyclist. Runners are often friendly and wave or say hi, cyclists will even stop and offer help if you have trouble with your bike but swimmers IME are a*holes. The only advice I can give is to try and say hi when you get in pool to try and diffuse any tension but I’ve found the lifeguards fairly helpful if you complain about aggressive swimmers thinking they own the lane. I usually find the fast swimmers aren’t in for that long anyway.

Actually that’s the bit that surprises me the least.

Actual swimmers do it naturally. If they get to the end and someone’s behind them they duck under for the swimmer to go over the top of them. They also swim underwater out of others way naturally.

Oh!! That makes sense now, I thought it was someone trying to be an arse

No normal people don't encroach on other people's spaces - not over here anyway. Perhaps in your country but that's not etiquette in the UK so your views are irrelevant. Here it's weird.

Are you saying I'm a male?
Ha ha, definitely not.
MN is famous for calling women men just because they aren't men haters.
If a penny has dropped then it's knocked you out and confused you.
Not sure how to prove it though....

Nobody did encroach though.
Also, my country is Scotland - last time I checked that was still part of the UK.

I don't know if he was trying to force you out of lane 2 or not but when you didn't move he went into lane 3. He wasn't aggressive and he didn't continue to swim in lane 2 with lots of splashing etc. to get on your nerves and force you to move.
So I don't think he was as bad as many swimmers I have experienced.

I don't like swimming in the outside lanes next to the wall and steps because they are slower lanes and people get in and out there. A lot of people in my pool hang around the side or the steps for quite a while after getting in or before leaving. However, I don't think that any of the other lanes belong to me and I'll swim in lane 1 if it is free and the others are occupied but if another lane becomes free I'll swim into it straightaway.

There’s no “clearly” about it.

He got in a lane - it wasn’t working he got out.

We could also surmise that “clearly” he didn’t want to be a pita!

I'm most definitely not 'a bloke'.
I'm a woman, just not a 'let's hate all men' type.
HTH.

If he didn't want to be a PITA he would have got into an unoccupied lane in the first place.

In the normal world he did.

Amazing! You sound straight out of Reddit.

So if you’ve always done something a certain way in a certain context that means you never have to adjust your behaviour to be appropriate in a different setting? Right

I still don’t see what he did wrong? Or how he was being “territorial”? I am a middling speed swimmer, sometimes I think I’m going to be faster (or slower) than someone in my lane but often you don’t know until you have swum a few lengths. If he got to the end, and then thought “oh, she’s right behind me” he may have just decided it’s easier to switch lanes. I’ve done that loads of times.

there are lane hogs about for sure, but I can’t see on this occasion how he’s done anything at all to justly call him “territorial”.

In the normal world, he didn't.
As for reddit, pot, kettle, black.
Also, no apology for wrongly assuming my nationality because a Scottish person couldn't possibly like German words?

So arsehole can come with both a penis and vagina attached

😂😂

Im stealing that one for the future!

No, as another poster has also stated, it's not actually that abnormal to swim under others.

It is when the rest of the pool is completely empty.