I've spent a little time looking over this site
to find out how much I don't know about the
current Masters Swimming scene.
And also, what I might be able to
do to become competitive.
Something quite new seems to be races
that are only one-length of a short-course pool.
25 Yards and 25 Meters.
Where is the organization going with that ?
Will they be considered
for Top-Ten rankings ?
How did it get started ?
Old-N-Slow
Until just a handful of years ago, the pool on the Newport, RI Navy base where I swim was a 6x35-yard lap pool. (We now have a nice, new 6x25m pool.) At one time there were actually two 35-yard pools on the base. For years I tried to ascertain why in the world the Navy installed these odd distance pools. No good answers. Then, I encountered another couple of 35-yard pools on the Army base at Fort Meade Maryland. People there told me they knew of other military installations with 35-yard pools as well. There at Ft. Meade, they had cleverly set jersey barriers in the shallow end to make 25m lap lanes...which also created a good sized area for the kiddos to play in. All these pools were built in the WWII era. But the people at Ft. Meade gave me a good answer as to why the military built these odd-length pools. Initially, it was simply so that outside entities wouldn't come to them asking to use the pool for swim meets...since events swam in the odd-length pools couldn't be recognized for records, etc. That didn't work for long. By the time I got stationed on the Navy base here in Newport in 1988, when they still had only the 35-yard pools, the base hosted a youth club team, and a USMS group. Good enough for workout/practice. Still not OK for meets.
Dan
So I math'd this out, just because 35 yards seemed so oddly specific that there had to be some logic for it to be on several different bases. 35 yards is 32 meters (or, 32.004 if you want to be extra precise), which divides a 1600m swim right nicely into 50 lengths. So if for some reason you want to swim a pool mile, there you are.
Still no idea why so many older pools seem to be 20 yards, though.
Until just a handful of years ago, the pool on the Newport, RI Navy base where I swim was a 6x35-yard lap pool. (We now have a nice, new 6x25m pool.) At one time there were actually two 35-yard pools on the base. For years I tried to ascertain why in the world the Navy installed these odd distance pools. No good answers. Then, I encountered another couple of 35-yard pools on the Army base at Fort Meade Maryland. People there told me they knew of other military installations with 35-yard pools as well. There at Ft. Meade, they had cleverly set jersey barriers in the shallow end to make 25m lap lanes...which also created a good sized area for the kiddos to play in. All these pools were built in the WWII era. But the people at Ft. Meade gave me a good answer as to why the military built these odd-length pools. Initially, it was simply so that outside entities wouldn't come to them asking to use the pool for swim meets...since events swam in the odd-length pools couldn't be recognized for records, etc. That didn't work for long. By the time I got stationed on the Navy base here in Newport in 1988, when they still had only the 35-yard pools, the base hosted a youth club team, and a USMS group. Good enough for workout/practice. Still not OK for meets.
Dan
So I math'd this out, just because 35 yards seemed so oddly specific that there had to be some logic for it to be on several different bases. 35 yards is 32 meters (or, 32.004 if you want to be extra precise), which divides a 1600m swim right nicely into 50 lengths. So if for some reason you want to swim a pool mile, there you are.
Still no idea why so many older pools seem to be 20 yards, though.
