Swimming rant - was I in the wrong here?

[clary]

Arrgh need to vent
Had a lovely swim today but there was an annoying man. I swim there often and I have seen this man before. He swims in the medium lane (lanes are 2 x slow, 1 x med, 2 x fast) doing a very splashy but inefficient front crawl, slowly. I am a diehard medium lane swimmer – front crawl but not very fast.

I have no issue with people swimming in the lane at a different speed. But when they don’t move over it really bugs me. I left him a length to get ahead but still caught up with him within about 5 lengths. He MUST have seen me but didn’t move. I tapped his feet (ugh) and he still didn’t move. It took him four lengths to stop and let me go first.

Then the exact same thing happened again. Then again. The third time, I overtook him (we were the only ppl in the lane) as I was getting annoyed. I had finished my swim so I stopped at the end to say something to him, as he does this all the time and the older I get, the more I want to call out crap behaviour.

I politely said to him, can you try to be more aware of others in the lane and how fast they are going – you should stop and let them pass. He pretended not to understand, so I repeated it, then he unpleasantly said, speak to the lifeguard and see what they say; you were too impatient to wait for me to stop [wtf?] so it’s your fault. And he swam off.

He's massively out of order, no? If you are in a lane you need to be aware of other swimmers – it’s not hard. If I am in a faster lane (occasionally) I am hyper aware of the fast ppl and get out of their way, every other length if need be. Plus wait for him to stop? He was finishing his length and then immediately setting off again even tho I was right behind him – how can I wait for him?

Some male swimmers are arseholes to women. Can you overtake in the lane? This sometimes works but I've found they just speed up so you can't.

why did you not just move up into the fast lane? clearly in the situation you were in, you were the faster swimmer and therefore eligiable to move up?

I think this is your fault - in our pool you swim to the side and faster people overtake. You don’t stop and let them go past.

I mean everyone swims at the side of the lane and faster people overtake as necessary

@CindyBirdsong sorry i dont know why it quoted you then..

Ok the fast lane was populated by very fast swimmers for whom I would be stopping every three lengths or so. You might just as well say he should move to the slow lane tbh. But I don’t think that (tho a woman in the next slow lane was faster than him).

The instructions on the end of the lane ask slower swimmers to stop at the end to let others pass. You can’t overtake as a rule as there isn’t room. I mean I did in the end, but only bc there was no one else in the lane - maybe that annoyed him

I knew this was going to be about a slower man not giving way to a faster woman.
Could you swim in the faster lane?
Do the lifeguards monitor this behaviour?

Could you have moved into the fast lane? Were you the only 2 in that lane?

Lane swimming are an utter pita. Could you not have just moved into the faster lane?

Cross post.
I'd overtake then , even if against the rules and if you're pulled up on it point out he's in the wrong lane.

Ah I see, yes he should have just let you go ahead on the next lap if you were right behind him then. He was clearly an arse.

Does the lane have the sign with the arrows to indicate the direction swimmers should swim. Most lanes you swim clockwise and overtake any swimmer you catch up with. I think the stop and allow a pass is more of a courtesy thing and not really a rule as such. I would just overtake him next time

OK, if there were instructions about moving over then yes, he (and anyone else) should have stopped at the end of the lane. I've never once been lane swimming when the system works though!

Before I read the post I knew it would be about a male swimmer swimming in the wrong lane, trying to drown a female swimmer or otherwise being aggressive to a female swimmer. Male swimmers have right of way and are never wrong by virtue of having a penis.

As there were 2 slow lanes and swimmers faster than him using them, pretty obviously he should have changed lane.
And tbh if he wasn't following the instructions to wait to let faster swimmers pass (what other pools do re overtaking is irrelevant) then maybe you should have called his bluff and talked to the lifeguard.

Maybe if he's in the pool when you go in future you could have a quiet word with the lifeguard before you start, saying you've had issues in the past with slower swimmers not behaving as they should and ask them to keep an eye out?

You were reasonable, he was not. Lifeguards are there to make sure no-one drowns, and given the nature and quality of most leisure centre managers, I doubt if the lifeguard acted he or she would be supported by their manager.

She's already said there were faster swimmers. She's a middle speed swimmer. Obnoxious guy is a slower swimmer, he should have 'just moved'.

I think you're being a bit unreasonable.

If I was the slower swimmer I would probably pause the first time to show willing, but other than that I would expect the faster swimmer to overtake - because you say there was no one else in the lane. So of course you overtake.

If the lane is busier so faster swimmers cannot overtake, then yes I would hope the slower swimmer would pause. But there is no need for him to pause with only two of you in the lane.

But surely if she's swimming at his feet he should stop for 5 seconds at the wall and let her pass?

I hate those too-narrow lanes, where there isn't room to overtake. I don't know why pools put these in; it would make a lot more sense to have fewer but wider lanes.

In situations like this, I just change direction.

Gosh I hate splashy but dlow men Swimmers. They're so awkward.

Thing to do is turn early and therefore overtake but you don't have to actual go around him. So 3m from the end of the pool just turn early and you'll be in front. I do it often when forced to share a lane with similar Swimmers as inevitably if you try to swim around they speed up/ move into he middle.

I think you're completely in the wrong. In every pool with lane swimming that I've ever used, if someone is going faster than the swimmer in front, they pull out to overtake and don't expect the other person to slow down or move out of the way. I'm a slow swimmer and have never had anyone expect me to move over if they are swimming faster, and assuming we are both in the appropriate lane. Quite honestly, if someone tapped my foot when I was swimming, I think I would automatically kick out at them.

Turning round early isn't a good solution if you're trying to swim proper lengths or a specific distance.

I was taught to do foot tapping, and thought it was universal, but it doesn't seem to be.

I think I'd have turned halfway up the lane in this case, to get him out of the way, and to make it easier for me counting. But agree he should have let you past when you were so close at the end of a lane.

Did you see my later post that crossed?