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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Former Member
I have been to some pools where they put signs for Fast, Medium and Slow.
Where I swim they cater to peoples' egos so much that we don't have a slow lane.
It's a six lane wide pool, divided into four 1.5 width lanes.
And they're marked Leisure (where it's really just float and chat) and then three lanes are
Fast, Medium Fast and Medium.
And yet, you should see that the majority of some egos could never accept to be seen in the slower than Fast lane.
Sometimes it's good for me.The two faster lanes get crowded with "egos" and the slowest (Medium) lane is almost mine alone.
I have been to some pools where they put signs for Fast, Medium and Slow.
Where I swim they cater to peoples' egos so much that we don't have a slow lane.
It's a six lane wide pool, divided into four 1.5 width lanes.
And they're marked Leisure (where it's really just float and chat) and then three lanes are
Fast, Medium Fast and Medium.
And yet, you should see that the majority of some egos could never accept to be seen in the slower than Fast lane.
Sometimes it's good for me.The two faster lanes get crowded with "egos" and the slowest (Medium) lane is almost mine alone.
