Sounds simple, right? It is, if everyone cooperates.
When overtaking someone in your lane (presuming freestyle is being swum), tap their foot on one stroke so they will not be surprised to see you so close behind. Wait for a couple of strokes to find out what they intend to do and pass accordingly.
Tap the foot. That is the signal that you want to pass. Surprise is unwelcome in most practice lanes.
When swimming in a lane with others and someone taps your foot, that means they want to pass. It doesn't mean they want to race. It doesn't mean they want to talk or fight. They are overtaking you in a swim and want to continue their pace with the least amount of consternation on anyone's part. If your foot gets tapped, there are exactly two appropriate ways to respond. #1- if you are swimming long course and have been tapped in the middle of the pool, slow down a little and move to the right, hugging the lane line. The passing party will be by in a moment and you will be able to continue apace, both satisfied that no meaningful time was lost in the exchange. #2 - if you are in short course lanes, swim to the end of the lane as far right as possible, grabbing the wall for an open turn. This will give the overtaking swimmer plenty of room to pass on the left and you will be able to draft off of him for a little while.
When your foot is tapped, it is not a signal to speed up. There are no swimmers alive that have never been passed in workout. I occasionally will be passed and do the passing in the same workout. It is not a point of honor, it is workout. It is not a signal to stop. All that accomplishes is to mess up both swimmers' workouts and clog up a lane for other swimmers.
You are not alone in the lane, don't act like you are. If your lane mates all want you to go first, don't waste time being demure, even if you know they are faster. Just go and make them pass you a few times and the lane order will even out. Talk to one another (only when the coach is not talking) to decide how passing will be done and everyone is happy.
I agree that toe taps are only necessary if the lead swimmer is either clueless or stubborn. I personally haven't had to do much toe tapping as a Master, mostly because everybody in my lane is usually faster than me, but also because people are generally aware of the other swimmers in their lane and automatically move to let the faster swimmer pass.
I do on occasion turn in the middle when it's a warmup set or something like that too. I don't want to mess up a slower swimmer's flow if I don't have to.
But as a kid it was a whole different story. Nobody wanted to let you pass. I'm pretty sure I was as bad as anybody on this. We used to have to grab ankles and pull people backwards to get around them! :D
!. If you are on a team & swim with the same swimmers - the wall stop is a great way to avoid mid-lane crashes. OR as I some times do - the mid lap flip to be forward of 1 - 3 swimmers on long sets. :bolt:
2. Open lap swim - try to talk :blah::blah: to they 1st about what you want to do or don't expect them to conform to new rules they do not know ! :worms:
I can't count the number of times I have been passed by novices who have speed BUT no endurance, no sense of pace, and no sense of lane etiquette.
It's frustrating to have them draft, thrash in my feet, so I slow and let them pass only to have them switch to wide breaststroke or stop at the wall and box me in. Typically without the draft they aren't fast enough to swim in front.
About the toe taps - it's a little tough doing backstroke to know exactly how close you are behind people, especially on pull sets. Those paddles hurt. Sorry! I do tilt my head back to "sight" from time to time.
so what happens when you get the accidental tough? say the person behind you prefers to swim on your feet and draft the whole practice and when you slow down so do they, when you stop on the side and let them go, they say no that's ok you go first.
I get passed and pass people all the time, I don't expect them to adapted to me. most lanes are 2m wide, in a long course or shortcourse pool there is room to pass in the middle, this just demands that everyone is paying attention all the time. passing in the middle not only effects the person being passed, but the person coming in the oppsite direction.
what you are describing sounds more like a lap lane topic. since we are 12-20 people at my practices with training times for 100m fr going from 1:12 to 1:47 we do our best to make the lanes even, as well as even paced. if we have too many and we can't get three evenly paced lanes we don't swim anything over 100m preventing the need to pass anyone.
I swim with teenagers. Often I am the slowest in the practice. If I catch then and tap their feet I expect them to start working harder in practice. :D If after the 2nd tap they haven't sped up, then I will pass them. With my bad ankle I have a fear of being tapped. It can hurt me. So I'm keenly aware of where the swimmers are in my lane (long course we have about 9 per lane). I step aside at the end of the lane or will go under and let them swim over me to avoid being tapped.
Not quite normal but it works.
This was actually encouraged when were age groupers (and by our coach no less).
We had an Olympic distance swimmer on the team who did 100's on the minute interval. And he'd sail into the wall at :54 pace or better. If the last guy in his lane wasn't out of his way after the initial tap...down they went.
:afraid:Brutal! This entire thread makes me realize there is at least one benefit of swimming alone and having a lane to myself. :D
If someone made the mistake of swimming slow in your lane, you, without any kind of warning, grab their ankle and zing them right back into the swimmer behind you. Simple, effective and everyone is happy.
I used to do this on occasion passing my buddies in college practices. If I was lucky I made it past them without them returning the favor a second later. :)
The best one is to do this as you are passing them, just as they are entering a flip turn. Makes 'em dead in the water with the head down butt up! :D
I don't think I would do this to any masters swimmers I swim with. But I could make an exception for That Guy.
Usually the slower swimmer holds up at the next wall and allows the pass. I've not heard of this toe tapping. I have found kids are reluctant to allow the pass, which is why they get barked at.
If everything works right no one should need to stop at the wall or even do an open turn. The swimmer being passed just needs to maintain their pace, stay as far right as possible, and avoid cutting off the passing swimmer at the wall.
