Those %&$*#^% lane crossers

Swim right over them, preferably doing butterfly.

Swim right over them, preferably doing butterfly. Yes - that I would imagine doing that too. I can understand that kind of frustration. When living in Shanghai, I swim at the 50 Meter pool in the Jingan Centre. There were no lane lines during lap/recreational swim, which made the experience similar to OW swimming and it was so crowded with people swimming and standing by the wall at the shallow end. It took careful sighting when swimming laps, following the black lines on the pool bottom, and to do flip turns. On top of all that there would always be few swimmers who randomly would swim ACROSS the pool while no one looked or tried to avoid you and the lifeguards did nothing. So needless to say, eventually my wife and I found a another safer less crowded pool to swim in.

:bitching: Ok, tell me please if I'm being petty here. Every summer, I swim outside in the community pool which has 2 lap lanes available in the morning and evenings. HOwever, while swimming, I often have to wait for non swimmers who enter the lap lane and go under the ropes to cross over to the open area, because they are too lazy to use the other two entrances to the pool ALL THE WAY ON THE OTHER SIDE, about a whole 15 feet away! Today, I ended up in a confrontation with a woman, (sorry, but why is it always the women????) who said she didn't want to walk around to the other side. When I told her that the lap lanes were put in for lap swimming and that crossing while people are swimming is not safe, she laughed at me. Of course, the 3 lifeguards sat and watched in their usual stupor. Do you deal with this in your general outdoor pools? I am throwing in the towel and giving up since the guards will not monitor the lanes and frankly, fighting when swimming is making me very unhappy. :badday: What Chris said. Just keep swimming. Don't stop. If you run into someone who was crossing against traffic, do so vigorously.

If you want a dedicated lap lane, build your own pool. Otherwise, understand that public pools are open to the (gasp) public, and there will be lane crossers, bobbers, floaters and more or less experienced swimmers than yourself in the space from time to time.

There is a guy on my swim team who was lap swimming one day and somehow upset a woman so she splashed him. He splashed her back and continued swimming. She called the police and said he hit her. The police officer looked at him, ~220 lb body builder body, looked at her (no injury whatsoever), laughed and left. If you watch the Police Women of Broward County, then you would know that 90% of the time the person who initiates the call to the police is the one handcuffed and taken away. I would think most calls about someone hitting someone at a pool and then seeing two adults it's pretty obvious what happenned - which is absolutely nothing. Since the lifegaurds offer you no help, I suggest investing in 2 saftey cones and put them by your lane with a stay out sign. If the lifegaurds say something when you put them up, then kindly ask them to enforce the no-walk zone, because it is not safe for you, the right of way swimmer, who might turn and hurt yourself on a foreign object that is crossing inappropriatetely across your lane. They may then decide it's worth a whistle blow instead of a crazy person with 2 saftey cones in his swim bag. I say this as a joke to lighten the thread, but it might also be a good idea to try! Plus, now you have 2 all-purpose saftey cones for all sorts of non pool use as well!! tee hee!

Bill, you are very fortunate. Brenda, It seems that this pool company feels that lap swimming is a PIA (poor guards have to remove and install lane lines every day!), and therefore, despite the homeowners' management company's instructions that guards should keep the non-swimmers out of the lap lanes, the pool company is disregarding those instructions and guards sit there and stare straight ahead, pretending not to see the rule breakers. We are second class citizens. Fresnoid, Chris, and Sunruh, I did that in the past, and a woman who refused to get out of the lap lane (so she could do some semblance of water exercises against the wall) claimed I hit her, while I was doing backstroke. She then got out of the pool and called the police! At that time, the guards were very supportive, and told the police that she refused to get out of the lap lane. It's a very stressful experience sometimes. Other times, it is a very lovely experience, depending on whether or not a random cretin shows up at the pool on any given day. Which begs the question - if the lifeguards saw this all happen, why didn't they blow the whistle and tell her to get out of the lane to begin with. The problem seems a non-enforcement of lap lane swimming by the lifeguards.

Wow, sounds like quite the group you've got there. I'm sure the police were really excited to respond to this BS call. File under "first world problems." There is a guy on my swim team who was lap swimming one day and somehow upset a woman so she splashed him. He splashed her back and continued swimming. She called the police and said he hit her. The police officer looked at him, ~220 lb body builder body, looked at her (no injury whatsoever), laughed and left.

put on your paddles!

Redbird, this isn't really a public pool. It is part of a homeowner's association community. ONly fellow neighbors (in a rather large community of townhomes, single family homes, condos) can use the pool. So these idiots could very well live on my street, yet they act like self-indulgent children. If I could, I would have built my own pool, but that isn't in my future.

I must be very fortunate. When I swim in seasonal pools the Lifeguards watch me and make sure no one enters the lanes for lap swimming. They have often stated to me they wish there were more lap swimmers. The Lifeguards do their best to keep the lap lanes free of recreational swimmers.