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"...
Former Member
Michelle's got the right idea on this one. The toe tap is annoying, but you should signal the person being passed that you're coming by them. I try to time the tap to gently brush the ankle or mid-calf of the passee so that he or she knows not to move to the center of the wall on their flip turn.
It's not like we go around grabbing at people's legs!! It's just a little brush w/ the hand as you continue the pull stroke.
The toe tap gets annoying because some people DO expect you to stop swimming and let them go by. It's an old age group thing--the kids would try to catch the person in front (usually not leaving 5 seconds between to boot) and tap-tap-tap away until the leader gets annoyed.
I'd much rather have someone tap me on the leg as they are passing becuase it tells me they're actually on the way past, not waiting for me to get out of the way.:2cents:
I think we're generally on the same page. Personally, when I catch the person ahead of me on a long swim, I might give them a lap to realize I'm behind them and to give over at the next wall. If that doesn't work, or if it's a shorter swim, I'll tap the person's foot once (but only once) to let them know I'm there and ready to pass. It's only if that also doesn't work (and the person is being stubborn) that I will tap the foot a couple of times. From there, I'll just turn at the flags to get around the person...
I was passing a new swimmer in practice
he was slow and swimming the wrong lane
(should have been in a much slower lane)
there were swimmers approaching me from the other direction
as I was passing him he started moving closer to me and grabbed my leg
it was annoying
on snake day
I passed many swimmers several times
there was plenty of room in each lane
most I just breezed past
some I passed by SDKing deeper and further off turns
sometimes it's appropriate to tap a swimmer you're passing
1) if they're not aware you're about to pass them or
2) if you're approaching a turn
you can let them know what side you're on
mixed signals or no signals can cause a collison
lately I've been getting passed a lot because I've been skipping parts of sets
or going at slower paces during my extended taper
in races
if you wanna pass
you've gotta take it
I think we're generally on the same page. Personally, when I catch the person ahead of me on a long swim, I might give them a lap to realize I'm behind them and to give over at the next wall. If that doesn't work, or if it's a shorter swim, I'll tap the person's foot once (but only once) to let them know I'm there and ready to pass. It's only if that also doesn't work (and the person is being stubborn) that I will tap the foot a couple of times. From there, I'll just turn at the flags to get around the person...
I was swimming in a lane to-day. Not a club workout just in open lap swim, 3 lanes for lap swimmers.
I started out in the fast lane some old guy gets into my lane and starts swimming double arm backstroke, swimming down the middle of the lane. I had just finished my 200m warm up.
I moved to the slow lane which was empty. My work out today was 200s with 1 minute rest. I did 2 really nice 200s and a little old lady gets in my
This is halarious:lolup:
OMG sounds like me talking here.
Those floaters just p*ss me off!
I have been to some pools where they put signs for Fast, Medium and Slow. Wish my YMCA would do this!
Would anyone admit they are slow though?
Good luck.
Too funny!
It is frustrating to be shooting for a time and have someone interfere do to a lack of courtsey, if there is a slower lane.
Of course the slower person might be shooting for a time and be frustrated at being asked to stop at a wall, if there is a faster lane the passer could be in.
I generally try to just swim past the slower swimmer, but some people make it very hard to pass them around the walls. Suppose we're swimming anti-clockwise in the lane - what I really want the slower swimmer ahead to do is to move over to the left so that they turn and push off straight back down the pool. If they do this, I can swim down their right side coming into the wall, tumble at the side of them as they turn, then my push off will be much better than theirs and I'll be past them soon afterwards. The problem is people who swim down the right hand side all the way to the end, because then you have no choice but to either wait behind them till after they've turned, losing over 5 seconds, because they will be REALLY slow at turning, or to go down the left hand side of them, and hope that they see you rather than moving across into you.
I actually find it quite hard to get past even much slower swimmers without there being some crossover at the wall. If I'm repping 1:10 per 100m, and someone else is repping 2:00, they're probably losing 20 secs of that difference on the turns, leaving around 7 secs difference per 25m length. To do a completely clean overtake, you need to gain around 5m on someone, to go from your hands being a bit behind their feet, to your feet being a bit ahead of their hands. This is actually a lot of ground to gain on someone in a 25m length, and if you only catch them up 10m from the end of the length, there isn't much hope of a clean overtake. The only options are either a) for the faster swimmer to lose a load of time waiting to overtake at the start of the next length, or b) for the slower swimmer to be impacted slightly at the turn. The slower swimmer will lose a lot less time in option b then the faster swimmer will lose in option a.
At my health club, the sign on the wall states that slower swimmers should give way to faster swimmers, and I think this is sensible for the reasons above.
The only time I tap people on the feet is when they set off right in front of me as I'm coming in to turn and I basically push off straight into their feet. I do this to make them aware of how quickly I've arrived behind them in an attempt at education so they don't do it again!
There is great signage at our pool. 1st lane Big sign Slow Lane, lane #2 Lap Swimmers lane #3 Fast Swimmers Only The only thing wrong no one can read.
I was swimmiin in a lane to-day. Not a club workout just in open lap swim, 3 lanes for lap swimmers.
I started out in the fast lane some old guy gets into my lane and starts swimming double arm backstroke, swimming down the middle of the lane. I had just finished my 200m warm up.
I moved to the slow lane which was empty. My work out today was 200s with 1 minute rest. I did 2 really nice 200s and a little old lady gets in my
This is halarious:lolup:
OMG sounds like me talking here.
Those floaters just p*ss me off!
I have been to some pools where they put signs for Fast, Medium and Slow. Wish my YMCA would do this!
Would anyone admit they are slow though?
Good luck.
Too funny!
....some people make it very hard to pass them around the walls.
If there is room in front of a slower swimmer (and there often is with a straggler), I don't go to the wall but just switch lanes and go in the reverse direction ahead of the slow swimmer while he/she is turning.
OK, you miss 10yds or so of swimming - no big deal.
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.
