Several posts with people just jumping in and swimming and then running into another swimmer!:confused: I just don't get the thought process that leads to that. I always make sure that I have the attention of ALL of the other swimmers in a lane before I enter. It doesn't have to be a conversation. Just them looking at me and acknowledging that I am getting in. In the end, its the resposibility of the person getting in to let the others know they are coming in. I know that when I am in a good workout, I tend to become oblivious to what's happening on the deck around me.
On occassion, when I can't get someones attention that is swimming, I will sit on the edge with my feet in the water - at a corner of the lane. That has always made them look at least briefly.
Just last week I was swimming laps and some guy got into the lap lane. I was the only one in the lap lane and there was plenty of room on the other side of the lane for him to swim. As I approached the wall I saw that he was on my side of the lane. I could see that he was watching me so I thought for sure he would move. As I got close enough to do my flip turn I realized he wasn't going to move. I had to do my flip turn to the side of him. Let's just take note that he was a pretty big man. Well I didn't really go to his side far enough and he got a pretty good jab from my elbow as I did my flip turn. Although I didn't do it on purpose I was pleased with myself and felt he deserved it. When I got out of the pool one of the mothers that was wathcing lessons said she couldn't understand what he was doing. He just stood there and watched me come straight at him.
Originally posted by Scansy
Several posts with people just jumping in and swimming and then running into another swimmer!:confused: I just don't get the thought process that leads to that. I always make sure that I have the attention of ALL of the other swimmers in a lane before I enter. It doesn't have to be a conversation. Just them looking at me and acknowledging that I am getting in. In the end, its the resposibility of the person getting in to let the others know they are coming in. I know that when I am in a good workout, I tend to become oblivious to what's happening on the deck around me.
On occassion, when I can't get someones attention that is swimming, I will sit on the edge with my feet in the water - at a corner of the lane. That has always made them look at least briefly.
I'm with you. I even make sure the other person knows I'm there before I start even if we're splitting the lane, not circling. I'll stand in the water on the side opposite the one it appears the other swimmer wants. And if I'm wrong about the side I picked, I'll move to the other. I figure, if s/he doesn't stop and acknowledge my presence, at least I stayed standing there until s/he came back and turned at the end I was standing.
If there is anything at all to be peeved about this (given the thread this is in) it's when I get in right after the other swimmer pushed off, and I have to wait until s/he gets down and back. That, in itself, isn't a problem unless the person goes so slow that it takes several minutes to complete. I could have had my first 100 or more done already.
Originally posted by Kae1
But when you complain to gym management about it, they just say "the pool is there for all members to use".
Explain to them that you understand this, but you are just trying to keep them from getting into trouble. Explain that the current situation is unsafe, that if they don't institute policies to change it, there will, sooner or later, be a collision in which someone is injured, that when this happens, they will be sued, and that when the case goes to court, they won't have a leg to stand on because they have been knowingly operating their facility in an unsafe manner.
Parents who don't get their kids to the meet on time so they miss positive check in and then I have to explain to a little 10 year old that they cannot swim because they arrived 15 minutes before the meet was suppose to start and check in closed an hour ago. And to boot, these are parents of our own team who should know better, sigh.
The hard job of trying to get a meet started on time and without empty lanes!
Shannan,
Looking at your other post about swimming in the north...
From your description of his size perhaps he was a poor, misguided polar bear, and you looked like a tasty seal snack!
It just seems to me that common sense says - I'm entering a lane that is already in use. I am causing the change. Although I do have the right to join the lane, it's my responsibility to make sure that everyone knows I'm joining. Seems like common sense to me. Kind of like driving. I'm the one merging onto the interstate, so it's my responsibility to do it safely. It's not up to the people on the interstate to make space for me. (It's nice if they do, but they don't have to.)
Originally posted by Karen Duggan
Shannan,
Looking at your other post about swimming in the north...
From your description of his size perhaps he was a poor, misguided polar bear, and you looked like a tasty seal snack!
No wonder I swam so fast that day.:eek:
Oh man I just had the WORST experience swimming ever. My Masters Club is only open during the week. I have a high calorie dinner this evening and wanted to get in 40 laps this morning and went to this gorgeous acquatic center that is just a hop skip and a jump from my home in Fremont, in Newark.
4 very spacious lanes, nice pool, indoor. The lanes were marked slow fast and medium. Not knowing which to go for, I got into a slow lane where a woman had just gotten in. So I was getting ready, and the herd came in. The pool was filling up fast. I had never shared a lane with more than two other swimmers - ever. So I start in the slow lane with the woman and I am overtaking her. She stopped at the end, then starts sliding to the middle of the lane!!!! On one of my breaths I said "Excuse me- I'm going to turn" and she looked at me like the Mother Ship was outside in the parking lot. She got the hint when I got to the end and initiated my flip turn.
So that didn't work. So I scooted to a 'medium' lane and asked if we could swim in a circle as the two swimmers were swimmgin side by side. Couldn't they see me standing politely at the end? I guess not. The water is kind of murky or something. Yuck. So that didn't work out either because they were doing freestyle, and I was doing BR and when I got to the end and did a flip turn, I almost ran smack into one of them. So, that didn't work, and I bade a farewell and moved to ANOTHER slow lane where a guy was doing the BR so I figured that would work. We glided politely past each other and I thought it was going to work until a third guy got in and I just gave up. I felt like I was driving in a crazy traffic jam, trying to keep myself out of harm's way.
I only got inabout 8 laps or so; I was so flustered, I kept forgetting to hit my lap counter. I got out and even MORE people were coming in.
Is it me, or is 25 people in a 4 lane pool just TOO MUCH?
I know I would have gotten too hot as the water was very warm. The pros - easy to get in, the cons, by my 20th lap, I would have been roasting.
Anyway, it was a HORRIBLE experience and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. I was leaving and more people were coming in through the front door.
I am going to see if my Masters club will start having a Saturday or Sunday Swim. Technically we can swim every day, it's just arranging a person with a key to come and we would watch the deck while the other swam. Something to think about.
:mad:
I think it's something to write about on my website's 'rant' section...
Originally posted by swimshark
That's about equal to swimmers who do a pull set with fins on (uless there is an injury, because then I could understand)
I have seen that and always wanted to......why?
