I did a search and didn't see a dedicated thread for this topic, which was inspired by a post by Chris Stevenson in the "How Many Swimmers Per Lane" Thread. I'll reproduce Chris's quote below (I hope you don't mind!) and my response (edited for context). What do others think?
(Hopefully I didn't just miss the thread on this. Sorry if I did--I did run a search!)
As far as passing goes, it is the responsibility of the passer. The slower person should not have to stop or slow -- indeed, s/he should not do anything differently...except perhaps be aware that s/he is being passed, swim in the proper part of the lane (esp not too far to the center) and don't do anything radical like speed up or move over suddenly.
It was interesting to read Chris say that, because I have the opposite view. I think, once alerted by a tap on the feet, the person getting passed should stop at the next wall and get out of the passing person's way. Maybe I feel that way because I swim in a pool with very narrow lanes and it's just not feasible to swim around somebody. This is also the way it works in my lane (the person getting passed will stop to let the faster person by) so that might also influence my view of what is "right". But in any event it seems reasonably fair to me. It's the slower person holding the faster person up, so it seems fair that the slower person defer...
I wonder if people's views are influenced by whether they are usually the "passer" or the "passee"...
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No foot tapping. No need for the passee to stop even in highly crowded, narrow lanes.
Passer just sprints on by.
I've been on both sides of the fence. I prefer to be the passer of course.
:agree:
So do I except that in some (crowded) pools you (I mean, I) get all kinds of swimmers in a lane and some think they are Olympic material because they can pass others (who are dead slow. Any slower, they'd be moving backwards.)
The problem is you're passing a slower person.
This passee's ego won't let him/her get passed, so he/she speeds up.
Meanwhile in the opposite direction (it's a 25m pool), person C has started passing person D at their 2 metre mark. The thing is C needs at least 47 metres to pass D and a 15m wide lane (Ok. So I'm exaggerating a bit.) Therefore you the passer, who only -possibly- needs some short distance to pass swimmer B, have to judge not only B's speed (or lack thereof) but also C and D who are both swimming head on into you (slowly but taking up the width of the lane, even if you the passer, crowd the passee into the right-hand wall).
And they'll give you a dirty look, after you've contorted your body into an inverted S shape (you wait until the last minute to overtake B and then twist yourself to avoid C and kind of cut off B and risk getting half your vertebrae out of joint) that a Chinese contortionist couldn't duplicate on live TV.
The lane Etiquette is posted into all our City pools with a big banner "Swimming is like driving". Ouch. No wonder they're such bad swimmers. There are no good manners on the road, either.
No foot tapping. No need for the passee to stop even in highly crowded, narrow lanes.
Passer just sprints on by.
I've been on both sides of the fence. I prefer to be the passer of course.
:agree:
So do I except that in some (crowded) pools you (I mean, I) get all kinds of swimmers in a lane and some think they are Olympic material because they can pass others (who are dead slow. Any slower, they'd be moving backwards.)
The problem is you're passing a slower person.
This passee's ego won't let him/her get passed, so he/she speeds up.
Meanwhile in the opposite direction (it's a 25m pool), person C has started passing person D at their 2 metre mark. The thing is C needs at least 47 metres to pass D and a 15m wide lane (Ok. So I'm exaggerating a bit.) Therefore you the passer, who only -possibly- needs some short distance to pass swimmer B, have to judge not only B's speed (or lack thereof) but also C and D who are both swimming head on into you (slowly but taking up the width of the lane, even if you the passer, crowd the passee into the right-hand wall).
And they'll give you a dirty look, after you've contorted your body into an inverted S shape (you wait until the last minute to overtake B and then twist yourself to avoid C and kind of cut off B and risk getting half your vertebrae out of joint) that a Chinese contortionist couldn't duplicate on live TV.
The lane Etiquette is posted into all our City pools with a big banner "Swimming is like driving". Ouch. No wonder they're such bad swimmers. There are no good manners on the road, either.
