25 yards and 25 meters - where are we going with this ?

And it was uphill both ways... m.youtube.com/watch

Still no idea why so many older pools seem to be 20 yards, though. The 440 yd free used to be an event, so that may be the reason.

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. Oh yeah...I always figured that they made them at some useful divisor length. I'm mean using those pools for training military troops...swim tests for certain qualifications, or acceptance into a certain program requires a swim of a specific distance. Otherwise they could have made them something really odd length that doesn't multiply nicely...like 31 yards, 7.5 inches, or whatever, for example. Dan

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.

I remember travelling to Evansville with the University of Arkansas-Little Rock team a number of years ago. They have an old six lane 25 yard pool. But what caught my eye was the tiled markings on the side of the pool: 220Y FR, 1500M FR, and I think 440Y FR. I suppose those were for rope finishes. Was that pool built 25 yards as an anomaly at the time, that they would need to include the 20 yard pool races? Always puzzled me.

I remember travelling to Evansville with the University of Arkansas-Little Rock team a number of years ago. They have an old six lane 25 yard pool. But what caught my eye was the tiled markings on the side of the pool: 220Y FR, 1500M FR, and I think 440Y FR. I suppose those were for rope finishes. Was that pool built 25 yards as an anomaly at the time, that they would need to include the 20 yard pool races? Always puzzled me. My sister went to Evansville, I remember seeing those markings! Tangentially, they *really* need a new pool...

The Rowdy Gaines meet in Orlando in the fall seems to be a popular place to do 25scm races. I wonder if folks like the 25m events because they get a "gun start" for practice in a new pool ? Do they like it just for practice starts ? Do beginners like the idea of a race that has a start, a pull-out, a swim and a finish that is not too taxing ?

I have competed in a 20 yard pool. It was about turns, not swimming. Yes, there was-when I was young - competition in 110, 220, 440 yards, which seemed to replicate the metric versions of those events. I have no memory of an 880 yard event, but why not. Perhaps the 20 yard pool was an alternative for applications with either less space, or less cost ? Difficult to swim a 110 yard race in a 20 yard pool, but they did it. Just drape the "false-start-rope" across at mid pool, and judge the finish by who touches the rope 1st. What was the mile equivalent of 1500 meters, swum in a 55 yard pool ? 55 yards x 30 = 1,650 yards ~= 1509 meters Was 1500 meters in a 55 yard pool another "rope finish ?" I once competed in a 50 meter race at the pool on Coronado, in California. My time disappointed, until I realized that was an old 55 yard pool, which is LONGER than 50 meters. 55 yards = 50.292 meters.