What annoys you?

how 'bout old guys who can't stay on their own side of the lane? Wanderers... Annoying??

Only when they swim right into my face and jam my goggles in my eye. But that can be forgiven. Especially a fellow Chesapeaker!

-Fast people in slow lanes -Slow people in fast lanes -Fast one on your heels passing you on the turn :rolleyes: -Two people chitchatting crowding out the entire end of a 9 foot wide lane - I can never figure out how they manage to do that, but they do! -Those wo chitchat so loud you can't hear the coach call the set. -Someone WAY too cheery and talkative at the 5AM workout (I just don't do idle chitchat at 5AM, all my energy is spent just getting to the workout) -People putting thir fins on and off several times in the middle of 8x100, one minute you're running into them, the next they're riding your heels. -Those who whine when a set is called.

I try to get along with whoever is in my lane. I figure the more swimmers the better. And those little old ladies with flowered caps? One day I might be one, and I hope some young (middle aged) thug doesn't ruin my day by sneering at me or worse kicking me... I often have to swim during public length swim, and ours is a very narrow laned 20m pool (only 4 lanes). I don't swim fly unless there's room (ie only me or maybe one other in the lane) as I don't want to accidently hit people. But I do get disappointed if I can't get fly in... What annoys me? Our pool has NO length swimming on Friday, Saturday or Sundays. :(

I dislike it when I get stopped so the person can ask if I will split the lane. Normally I swim on one side of the lane. If you see this, just jump in and make sure I have a chance to see you. And don't circle swim unless there are more than two people in the lane (and everyone is equally fast). I once collided with someone who though I should be circle-swimming with only him in the lane. And he was going a good 3 or 4 seconds slower per lap than I was. If someone is hogging the lane, just jump in; wait until they have done one turn on your side of the pool and start swimming. If they hit you then, it's their fault.

Definately make sure they see you! I once collided with a fellow that jumped in right after I started a *** to free split on IM. I had no idea he was directly behind me. He was swimming free, to my *** and apparently had to be practically on my toes. My emphasis was to work on fast tight turns. Well I came off the *** turn, hard into a streamline, and smack. Stunned us both. His comment was, I did not know you were going to come back so fast. I just told him to be sure and let a person know if you were going to share!

LOL. I do think even though poorly paid, they still should do their job, but it is sometimes hard for a person 16-17 years old to stand up to an adult. Especially an uncooperative one. And yes, I am a little biased, my son is one of those 17 year old guards, but even before he was one, I had pity for the guards when I saw patrons ream them for things that were not of their control. I guess it means there are rude people everywhere.

Originally posted by Zirconium I would never understand the reason why a slow swimmer chooses the faster lane. It is so frequent that now I get used to it. The fast lane "magnet" effect can be sometimes so powerful that the better lane is actually the medium lane (less crowded). The magnet effect is very simple to explain. A swimmer walks up to the pool and has three lanes to choose from. They are labeled but there is no recourse for choosing the wrong lane. If the swimmer goes to the lane with people slower than he is then HE has to pass people making it harder on him. If he picks the lane with people faster than he is, then YOU are the one doing the passing, making it harder on YOU. I think this clears it up. I swim at two different pools, one of them is meadowbrook where the NBAC, Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff train(ed). Even there the lap swimmers are mostly insanely slow, I like to watch the stroke technique. Some of them are best described as doing "The Humpty Hump" (You've got it down when you appear to be insane.) What I'm getting at in a roundabout way is i have never been to a pool and the other people in the lane were the same speed as me. They are usually slower, sometimes faster but never the same.

Dorothy's point about the lifeguards not being too concerned because, after all, they are paid a pittance, also applies to this side of the Atlantic. This lies at the heart of the problem of why poor lane etiquette is left to continue without any guidance from the deck. Our lifeguards are asked to work unsociable hours with little pay. They are often verbally abused by the public, and generally bored with their job, so I suppose we shouldn't really expect them to take an interest in the 'finer points' of swimming that we, as masters, take for granted. However, this shouldn't excuse those swimmers who are much slower than those in the lane they have joined, and those who hog the centre of the lane, and those infuriating swimmers who push off in front of you when you are half-way through a turn... etc. etc. Some members have mentioned the old ladies wearing flowery caps. We have those over here too.... flowery caps and old ladies. Small world isn't it?

Quote: Originally posted by Zirconium "I would never understand the reason why a slow swimmer chooses the faster lane." _____________ I once plucked up the courage to ask a very slow swimmer if he felt he would be able to keep up with the swimmers in the fast lane, which he'd chosen to join. He was quite indignant and said, "Huh, I'm much faster than those in the next lane." he clearly wasn't. Maybe he just wanted to show the rest of the pool that he was good enough to swim with the 'fast boys'. He was continually overtaken yet wouldn't move down a lane or two, even though the other lanes started to empty. He annoyed everyone in the lane, yet their comments, called out while resting at the end of the pool, washed right over him. He'd have had a less stressful ride in the slower lanes but chose to stay where he was.