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

Man swam underneath you so not to upset your swimming and then chose another lane while you were swimming. He problem solved for himself and caused you no harm.

He couldnt have waited the 1.345 seconds it would have taken the OP to swim past him? His time was so precious he had to swim underneath her??

Purposely aggressive and making a point

No, it isn't.
A trolley is for the shopping of one person/group at a time.
A lane is for several swimmers at a time.
It wasn't her lane, it was one lane she was in.

He can think what he likes. Just don’t give up your lane until you’ve finished.

Some people are just jerks and like to see what they can get away with.

Carry on. Ignore him. And amazing swimming!

The rules are just common sense though.

pick the lane most suited for your speed

let faster swimmers go ahead at the end of the lane

if there are 3 empty lanes, don’t choose the one lane with a person in it then behave like a PA twit by swimming under them.

It's not her lane.
Others swimming there too isn't 'giving it up', it's sharing a shared facility.
Would I have got in beside OP? Nope, because I cannot be bothered with territorial swimmers.
Can someone else, if they want to?
Sure, because it's a shared facility.

Why are the swimmers on here so batshit? So many threads where they're outraged that strangers aren't following the rules they've made up in their heads about who should be where.

I agree OP.

If there was only the OP already swimming in Lane 2 alone and he didn’t want to swim in the outside lane, he could have gone straight over to the 3rd lane from the off.

The fact he waited until the OP was next to him before swimming underneath her, shows he was being passive aggressive towards her because she didn’t automatically change lanes for him.

I’d report his behaviour to a manager.

Exactly, partly why I don't bother with pool swimming these days.
If I'm completely honest, just as many female swimmers have behaved like twats in our pool. The territorial aspect is funny at times, but also draining when it's regular.

What are you reporting exactly? 🫣

I know, right! Some of the comments on here have really put me off going for a swim as exercise. Who knew it was such a hot bed of passive aggression! 😂

Woman is swimming. Man enters, swims in one lane, moves into the lane occupied by woman, realises she’s catching up in speed, swims under her to move into a third lane, then moves back once she has vacated the pool. He was being weird, in the same way sitting right next to someone on a train or a bus when there are other options available is weird.

If he’d gone from lane 1 to lane 3 and then moved to lane 2 after OP had left I’d have said it was just a quirk and he liked the lane, but swimming in the same lane as someone when there are three empty ones around you is just bizarre, regardless of whether it’s all a public space or not. There’s just no need.

Yes, OK, it's his preferred lane. So what?

Let's work through it logically. There are four lanes only lane 2 is occupied.

So if he chooses lane 2, it means one of two things. Either he wants to swim in lane 2 because it is his preferred lane, or he wants to swim in lane 2 because it is the lane the OP (a lone female stranger) is swimming in.

When he gets in, the OP has no way of knowing which of the above two reasons is his reason for choosing lane 2. If it is because he simply prefers lane 2, this is annoying because he has chosen to get in her way when the rest of the pool is empty. If it is because she is there, she is potentially in danger from this random man. Either way, it's not good for her.

If it turns out that he does not represent any danger to the OP but simply prefers lane 2 (and once again, she has no way of knowing this), there are three possible outcomes.

1. She moves over and he gets what he wants.
2. She doesn't move over and he gets the message and moves over.
3. Neither of them moves over and they continue swimming in the same lane.

The fact that he chose lane 2 and subsequently moved over when she did not suggests that he chose lane 2 because it was his preferred lane, but he also wanted a lane to himself. His first preference was to swim in his preferred lane and for the OP to move, (i.e. his intention was to try to make her move out of the lane he wanted to swim in), but his second preference was to swim in a different lane and have it all to himself. When the OP did not move, he switched to his second preference.

Why does this matter?

Because his actions show that he consciously chose to make a woman (and, as a reminder, the OP was a lone female stranger) feel uncomfortable so that he could get what he wanted.

That's why it's arsehole behaviour.

I would love to see the receptionists face while this was being relayed to them

Yes people men can be absolute knobheads and hate it when you are faster than them and just love to get in you way.

90% aren’t though but I don’t remember them just the 10% that give me the rage. I see one guy and I know he is going to ruin my swim. He does one or two lengths slowly then stops for a break while I do and other 6 and then sets off just as I turn. He is a very large man who is tall and has huge arms and I just cannot ever pass him. He then always stand in the middle of the lane end completely oblivious to other swimmers and in fact when I moved to the side to let some flip he moved into that spot to talk to his daughter and chase this poor guy to crash. He regularly hits me with his paddle like hands

I swim 1k- 1 mile and can do 2k in around 45 minutes.

I swim in council pool with two lanes fast and slower. Depending on who is in i will swim in either lane but I will always be considerate and always give way and set of after after faster swimmers

I was trying to over take a very very slow man at the land ensure and he grabbed me and said I was rude for not asking to over take him. I was fuming! I did report it. But after he had left. He hadn’t quite grasped the concept of lane swimming.

You put more thought into this post than I presume the man did when he went into lane 2. Not everything is so deep.

I’m amazed by the amount of people on this thread who are jumping in (diving in?!) to defend a man who was clearly being completely unreasonable and a little aggressive.

If you go to a pool with 4 lanes available and one person already in one lane, would you seriously join that lane as opposed to one of the other 3 ones?

OP, you are definitely not being unreasonable.

I expect he really wasn't being a knob. He probably moved over because swimming next to the edge is crap in a small pool, all the waves bounce back in your face and you bash your hands. When he moved lanes I expect his surprise was just that you were swimming faster than he expected so then he moved over.

You don't own the pool or the lane ,why can't he move back in to his preferred lane once you get out
Really not seeing an issue

Spare lanes and just the 2 of you in the pool? He was being a bit silly.

Perhaps he didn’t have his glasses on!
Dunno…he was prob being a dick but there was no altercation so a non event really.

Well then these men need to be educated about how it makes women feel when they invade our personal space for no apparent reason, and do more thinking in future.

She didn't want him to have the lane even after she got out that's a bit strange .

I swim regularly.
I have to remove my glasses to swim and use ear plugs to prevent me getting water in my ears.
This means I cannot see well or hear well.
I have on occasion switched lane to what I thought was an empty lane only to find that there was someone in it. I tend to go by the choppiness of the water or if someone has a very bright swim hat I can see them.

It's possible that this guy is short sighted - which is why he looked surprised to see you?

I still maintain that he didn't see OP in the pool when he first got in. That doesn't excuse him swimming under her but he didn't inconvenience her by doing so

A friend of mine got "accidentally" kicked in the face by a man doing similar in the wrong lane OP. I would proceed with caution