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

This happens to me too! Couple of very aggressive male swimmers who seem to think the more noise and splashing they make the better they are!

We have graded lanes in our pool, 1 slow, 2 fast and 1 middle. Then we have 2 wider lanes which you can over take people in if needed.

Ive been swimming 2-3 times a week since February and the stuff people do keeps me amused for the 30 minutes I’m swimming. I never knew there was such human dynamics 😳

Totally agree but so many on here like …
he’s maybe short sighted/doesn’t understand lanes/likes company/
member of an underwater swimming club/a merman

or just a twat

This reminds me of an older thread where a woman was absolutely furious that a man stayed in the jacuzzi for longer than she thought was acceptable. There was plenty of space for other people but she kept insisting he was selfish.

Any chance he went swimming under the water with his eyes shut and popped up in a lane he wasn't expecting?

To be fair, I hated sharing the jacuzzi with random unknown men too, but I just avoided it when they were in, as opposed to complaining about their mere presence. I didn't mind sharing with those I did know. Since covid I've not really enjoyed health suites though (not due to covid, just me overthinking how minging they are).

Did I shock you with my word choice? Does ‘apologetically’ or ‘shuffle’ or ‘politely’ fit better? 🤷‍♀️

No mask, as the saying goes, it’s not all men but it’s usually men. We can love the men in our life but it doesn’t change the truth about our toxic society no matter how you might try with your twee little ‘off you goes’

Wow, semantics doing the heavy lifting here. If she did this as a reverse and she was the man we both know you’d happily be giving her a pasting still.

No. It’s a little more nuanced than that. But you’re right that we disagree. All good there.

No, you didn't shock me with your over dramatic language.

That’s quite the leap. I was specifically talking about the fact that he purposely swam underneath a woman in a pool that had multiple empty lanes. We’ll have to disagree if you’re thinking that sounds like a good move.

No, we don't.
Please explain how a lane in a public session belongs to any one person.

I'm not the one making leaps.
HTH

Sure.

Please explain why you’re so stuck on me referring to it as ‘her lane?’ If she was sat in the cinema and he came and sat on her lap would you be arguing that it wasn’t ’her seat?’ Of course not. The point here is he moved into the space in which she was swimming predictably towards after arriving after her and then swam directly under her afterwards. But we can leave it here, I’m fine with us having different opinions on this subject. At this point I’d worry if we found common ground.

Alright.

It’s made your position very clear.

Ok. Happy to disagree with you on this one.

There was no dispute. You were in lane 2. He was in lane 1, got briefly in lane 2, then switched lanes. He got in lane 2 after you got out.

I don't get the beef here. You're attributing thought processes to him that you have no idea are valid or not. I swim, when there's 2 people using a lane, we split the lane, more and we circle swim. A lot of people don't use the first lane because it's used for disability access and the machinery is bulky and that's kind of their lane. We tap someone's foot when we're passing. Some people switch lanes because there's somebody doing back stroke who's going to crash into people. Some people go for the faster or slower lanes. Some people don't like to share with breaststrokers or splashy butterflyers. Whatever.

I completely agree OP. I’m not sure why you’re having to justify this so much.

You missed the bit where she had predictably been swimming in that lane before he moved into it and then swam underneath her. The swimming underneath is a power move. He could’ve entered the pool in lane 3 if that had been his intent along.

Rightio.

A seat is designed for one person.
A swimming lane is generally designed for more than one person.
HTH

Again, rightio.

Swimming is, without doubt in my experience, where men of a certain vintage behave terribly and massively overestimate their speed. The amount that get into a fast lane with 6 swimmers all knocking out decent times and then breaststroke down the middle or fanny about is endless. I've had men hit me for passing them, block me from tumbling, swim down the middle and rant and rave at me (and others) for overtaking them. It's ridiculous. I quit swimming for 2 years because our local pool was such a skipfire. I have never, ever seen a woman behave like that. Never. In 10 years swimming.