Just wondering, when lane swimming and a faster swimmer can't for some reason go around a slower swimmer (narrow lane, busy lane, slower swimmer is in the middle of the lane, whatever), is it acceptable etiquette for the faster swimmer to pass underneath the slower swimmer? Will that freak out the slower swimmer?
Alan
As a coach, here's what I tell the folks in the crowded lanes (usually anywhere from 5-7 more novice swimmers) to do in regards to passing:
If you're overtaking a slower swimmer in your lane, you can either overtake them in the middle of the pool or pass them on the wall
If you're overaking them in the middle of the pool and are fast enough to do so, swim around them and pass them in the middle of the pool
If you're overtaking them but don't have enough room to pass them in the middle of the pool, standard procedure is to tap them firmly once on the foot and then wait to pass them on the wall--one tap should be sufficient to signal your intent to pass them
If the one tap doesn't alert the person you intend to pass and they don't let you pass at the wall, go ahead and tap them twice on the foot
If you're the one who's being tapped on the foot, once you get to the wall, slide over to the lanerope and let the person pass you at the turn--make sure you are far enough over that you aren't blocking the middle of the wall
If you haven't been tapped, but see someone rapidly overtaking you at the wall, you can go ahead and scooch over on the wall to let them pass you, then resume swimming
For the advanced/fast swimmers, I give 'em free reign to figure out how they want to pass folks--in the middle of the pool, tapping on the foot and passing at the wall, yanking the ankle when someone is being a jerk and won't let them pass, turning around in the middle, etc. When I take off my coach hat and swim a practice, I rarely have to tap--those of us in the fast lane have been swimming together long enough that we usually have a very good sense of where everyone is in the pool, so we either pass in the middle with no fuss, or pass on the wall with minimal fuss and without having to alert the person we're passing.
I had some shoulder issues last year and spent a while kicking in streamline with fins--in that scenario, I'd pass underneath people all the time, but usually only when we were doing an IM/back set, rarely ever on free sets.
As a coach, here's what I tell the folks in the crowded lanes (usually anywhere from 5-7 more novice swimmers) to do in regards to passing:
If you're overtaking a slower swimmer in your lane, you can either overtake them in the middle of the pool or pass them on the wall
If you're overaking them in the middle of the pool and are fast enough to do so, swim around them and pass them in the middle of the pool
If you're overtaking them but don't have enough room to pass them in the middle of the pool, standard procedure is to tap them firmly once on the foot and then wait to pass them on the wall--one tap should be sufficient to signal your intent to pass them
If the one tap doesn't alert the person you intend to pass and they don't let you pass at the wall, go ahead and tap them twice on the foot
If you're the one who's being tapped on the foot, once you get to the wall, slide over to the lanerope and let the person pass you at the turn--make sure you are far enough over that you aren't blocking the middle of the wall
If you haven't been tapped, but see someone rapidly overtaking you at the wall, you can go ahead and scooch over on the wall to let them pass you, then resume swimming
For the advanced/fast swimmers, I give 'em free reign to figure out how they want to pass folks--in the middle of the pool, tapping on the foot and passing at the wall, yanking the ankle when someone is being a jerk and won't let them pass, turning around in the middle, etc. When I take off my coach hat and swim a practice, I rarely have to tap--those of us in the fast lane have been swimming together long enough that we usually have a very good sense of where everyone is in the pool, so we either pass in the middle with no fuss, or pass on the wall with minimal fuss and without having to alert the person we're passing.
I had some shoulder issues last year and spent a while kicking in streamline with fins--in that scenario, I'd pass underneath people all the time, but usually only when we were doing an IM/back set, rarely ever on free sets.
