Terse exchange with woman - lane swimming

[SirChenjins]

I've just joined a gym and have been using the pool in the evenings when it's quiet. It's not the biggest pool (20m x 8m) and is sectioned off lengthways, with half of the pool for classes and general use, the slower lane in one quarter and the faster lane in the other quarter. The lanes have boards at the end on the poolside showing the direction you have to swim in, and this is also covered in your induction.

When I got to the pool last night an aqua aerobics class was in the half sectioned off, so I swam in the slower lane. 2 people were in the faster lane, I was the only one in the slower lane. Around 25 minutes in, the aqua class finished and everyone left, although a few stayed in the pool. One woman got into the slower lane where I was, waited till I finished a length and asked if it was OK if we swam side by side. I wasn't sure what she meant, so said no, we're meant to swim in single file clockwise like the board shows. She wasn't happy and asked why, so I repeated what I'd said, and started swimming again. I was aware that she was close behind me, and when we'd finished a further 2 lengths she asked why we couldn't swim side by side. Again, I repeated what I'd said, and she wasn't happy - she said she was swimming faster than me, and it made sense. I said she was in the slower lane (it wasn't marked on the board last night for some reason, but I've seen here there before and it's always marked - plus we're told at induction which lane is which) and if she wanted to go faster she could use the faster lane where there was only one person swimming. Lots of huffing from her, before she reluctanctly moved into the faster lane where I could hear her complaining.

I spoke to the manager afterwards and asked if they could make sure the signs were on the board. They were really annoyed with her and said that the lanes are not wide enough for 2 people, that it's dangerous to swim side by side as people can be kicked, and that she absolutely should have been using the faster lane and not arguing with people in the pool. They want me to fill in an incident report. WWYD?

This is really interesting! I lane swim multiple times a week at several different pools and I have never been asked by another swimmer to do side-by-side. If one person is faster, you let them by at the end of a length. A polite tap on the toes as you near the turn around lets the person in front know you're there if they haven't noticed. If it's quiet, you can often overtake mid way down a length if the difference in speed is huge.

If you were fairly similar in speed then yanbu, I agree it's usually more comfortable to swim in circular directions as you only have to pass each other intermittently.

It might be the case that she was much faster than you but much slower than the fast person, in which case I get why she picked your lane and asked you. She might have realised that she would continually catch you up and wanted to make it simpler by just going up and down, which is less annoying than trying to overtake all the time.

IMO given how popular lane swimming is, if the pool does not have set times where the whole pool is available for it, it's the pool management that's unreasonable.

I agree with almost everyone else. I don’t swim, but as part of an aqua therapy programme that was part of injury rehab, I had to walk up and down in the pool (used by the hospital rehab team and other members). I can just imagine the poor slow lane swimmers having to go in circuits behind me.

Do you always obey rules blindly, when common sense or other people’s experience of the practicalities can provide a better way of doing things?

I don't like side by side swimming. I'm perfectly capable of stopping ar an end so someone can overtake or doing a mid length turn to get ahead if the other person doesn't stop tor me.

DH and and I normally share a lane and he does 10 to my 8.

How on earth can you walk up and down? It's too deep!

A lot of gym pools are walking depths the whole way
Or I have seen people walk in big pools and just turn around before it gets too deep

Clearly It isn’t as I’m not drowned!

It’s the same depth everywhere, which is up to an inch or two below my (short person) shoulders.

It works very well for things like aquarobics as the classes can use the whole length of the pool. And, given how busy it usually is, it’s deep enough for swimmers.

Very common when there's just two in a lane to swim side by side so the faster swimmer isn't constantly having to overtake the slower one. Most people don't ask they just do that and I think most swimmers prefer it. I would hate to be tapped on the foot and never have been. I do normally avoid the pools when the aqua aerobics or kids swimming lessons are on unless I want to do it aqua aerobics. I have never been kicked by swimming side to side, biggest issue is splashers but that's worse not side to side.

Assuming there are at least two lanes in the 'slow' lane (one lane for you to swim down and the other lane for you to swim up), you were being really unreasonable. There were only two of you, so why not share the space effectively?

Just catching up on this. No, she was much faster than me - and faster than the woman who was in the faster lane. There really isn't room for 2 people to be side to side in the single lane, esp when one person is going much faster - I would have been going at the slower speed, she would either have been swimming against me, so we would have bumped as she was coming towards me, or she would have had difficulty overtaking me.

She had the use of the faster lane where she could go at the speed she wanted (only 1 person in there), and she also had the use of the half of the pool which was empty apart from 3 or 4 people sitting at the side chatting, or going very slowly. She could have swum side by side with them in a much bigger area with no risk of anyone being hit. Quite why she chose the narrow slow lane I'm not sure - she'd been in the aqua class, she'd have seen me swimming in the slower lane as I was the only person in there. I've never been asked to swim side by side by a fast swimmer, it makes no sense - that's what the faster lane is for. The clue is in the name.

It's the same depth across the pool - 1.2m.

There aren't 2 lanes

In your op you said two people were in the first lane already?

If it's wide enough to swim circuits then it's wide enough for two people to swim side by side

Yes, they got out. Then one person from the aqua class got into the faster lane and she got into the slower lane, but wanted to go faster than both of us.

And no, it's not wide enough, I assure you. That's why the board shows one arrow going in a clockwise direction and that's what the staff I spoke to confirmed. The section of the pool that's half of the pool is definitely wide enough for 2 in the way she wanted to though - she could have used that, but didn't for some reason.

It's weird you didn't mention any of this in your original post

The fact is you clearly weren't aware that side by side swimming is a thing. Hopefully now that you are you will consider those requests in a different light.

If you can't swim side by side then you cannot swim circuits because people still have to go past each other when swimming circuits. I've never seen a circuit lane that wasn't wild enough for two people to swim side by side for precisely that reason

Well, you've just heard about one now. She could have swum side by side in the larger section of the pool or used the faster lane where she could have gone at a faster speed.

2m is a standard lane width, and is wide enough for swimmers to pass (unless everyone is doing fly).

You swim clockwise in one lane and anti-clockwise in the adjacent lane so that swimmers are travelling in the same direction on either side of the lane rope to mitigate the risk of locking arms / whacking hands or head on collisions (all of which happen).

The gym pool we swim in has strict circuit lane swimming no side by side, there are boards showing direction of the swim at both ends of the lane. The rules of OP's pool are the same. She was not the one breaking the rules.

If you are on Reddit swim board swimming etiquette is clear about what to do if you are faster or slower than other swimmers in your lane and where you stand if you are taking a break.

Dh swims every day at the gym, it is 1.2m deep all the way for 25m, one slow lane, one fast lane. All the regular swimmers know where to pace themselves against the people in their lane. Dh knows he is faster than "Fred" but slightly slower than "Bob" but they all work around it. They are all tracking their swim times too.

I cannot understand why you are getting such a hard time OP, you are right, it doesn't matter if someone wants to swim side by side, the rules are circuit. If I wanted to join a lane I wouldn't be able to if two arseholes are treating the pool as their own personal space.

It's just not possible that you could swim in a circuit - up the left of the lane, down the right, fir example) but could not each swim one on the left and one on the right of that lane.

Were you swimming right up the centre?

But how, if the lane isn’t wide enough for two, do you swim past each other when swimming circuits? If someone starts at end A while you start at end B, even going in the same direction, or you waited at the lane end to let the faster swimmer through, you would need to swim past each other (facing each other as in effect) at points.

You cannot possibly simultaneously have a lane that is not wide enough to have 2 people swimming in the same direction for a brief moment, but wide enough for those same 2 people to pass in different directions, ie circuits. They’re the same width of person regardless which direction they’re travelling!

If you are passing someone then you tend to make your stroke smaller, less wide arms if breaststroke, it is brief. If you are swimming side by side your arms and legs repeatedly hit each other.

As everyone else has said, the general protocol is:

1 person - do whatever you want
2 people - side by side
3 or more people - circuits

It wasn’t and unreasonable suggestion from her. You are fine to say no, but she wasn’t doing anything wrong in asking.

You realise the same way of making your stroke smaller exists regardless of which direction you are swimming whilst you pass them. The woman was faster she would only have passed the op side by side for a brief moment.