Death to all Noodlers!

Hey, t, welcome to our world. :bighug: You had a rotten experience and you have my sympathy! Thanks Elaine and everyone else for providing a safe forum to vent - that's just what I needed :)

AARRRRGGGGG! I read much of this thread for the first time a couple of weeks ago. At that time my thoughts were 'gee, I'm really grateful for my pool as I rarely see any noodlers let alone have to share a lane with them' and 'can they really be that bad?'. But today, I had my first close encounter, and all I can say now is WOW. I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!!!! My first mistake was going on a Saturday afternoon. So I was particularly happy that one designated lap lane was free. The bad part was that it was the one next to the bulkhead. Oh well. I got in and just as I was about to push off, a little old lady noodler came up and said 'I'm going to split the lane with you'. Well... ok, I thought, I can share. Then she said 'and I'm going to be on the side with the lane line.' Umm..... what? I thought I was here first... I told her I'd prefer to have that side since I was planning to do some *** in my sets and I preferred not to hit the bulkhead all the way down. She said something about not wanting to hit it either, and that she didn't heal well or something to that effect (I didn't quite understand that). However, having been taught to be polite to my elders, and looking for a happy solution for everyone, I politely suggested maybe she'd consider splitting a lane with one of the other 5 single lane swimmers who were in lanes where both sides had lane lines. She looked at me and merely said 'no'. I frankly was stunned. Does no one understand pool etiquette? Not wanting to make an issue (and the fact that she had already quickly slipped into the lane and physically had claimed that side!) I modified my workout in my mind and started swimming free next to the bulkhead. As I came to the wall, I noticed a little issue - there was a ladder right at the end, blocking my turn. No problem. I was doing about 300yds to her 25, so it's not like we were getting in each other's way. I just moved over a foot or two and flipped in the middle of the wall then went back to my bulkhead side. As I finished my set, I noticed a lifeguard standing at the end of our lane. She leaned over and said 'would you mind splitting the lane?' Ummm..... I thought we were? I said 'yes, of course, that's what we're doing'. She said, 'well, I noticed you were turning in the middle and we like to accommodate all our patrons, so if you could just stay on your side...'. Once again, I was totally stunned... really?!? Where are the candid cameras?? When it sunk in that she was actually being serious, I said 'well, it's a little hard to do a flip turn with the ladder in the way, and moreover (pointing to the noodler who was waaaaay on the other end) it's not as if I'm getting in her way...' Fortunately, the lifeguard was a least a little reasonable and offered to pull the ladder out. Ok, another problem solved. After another set or so, the lane next to us opened up.... YAY! I moved over with my pull bouy and kickboard (borrowed from the pool), paddles (mine), flip flops, water bottle.... and continued my workout. I finished my first breaststroke set and was about to begin a kick set. I reached for the kick board....WTF??? Someone had take it! REALLY?!?!??? come on - there have got to be cameras somewhere.... :bitching::bitching::bitching: I learned my lesson. Noodlers are totally as bad as everyone says and I will NEVER try to work out on a Saturday afternoon again! On the bright side, I was so frustrated, I don't think I've ever swum a workout with quite as much gusto... Hi, T. I am so grateful that our sport is so helpful for coping with frustration. I started out really happy to share the pool with women who were, after all, there for fitness with their noodles. UNTIL they lobbied to get the temp raised from 83 to 84, and then 86! AND THEN they got the pool closed to lap swimmers during their class of 3-6 women ("We don't want to get our hair wet"!?!:censor:) Whatever. I just know I am becoming a better person, letting all the frustration, etc, drain away, like water off a duck's back, I'm in my happy place... With all the practice coping at the pool it makes the rest of my life seem easy.

Hi, T. I am so grateful that our sport is so helpful for coping with frustration. I started out really happy to share the pool with women who were, after all, there for fitness with their noodles. UNTIL they lobbied to get the temp raised from 83 to 84, and then 86! AND THEN they got the pool closed to lap swimmers during their class of 3-6 women ("We don't want to get our hair wet"!?!:censor:) Whatever. I just know I am becoming a better person, letting all the frustration, etc, drain away, like water off a duck's back, I'm in my happy place... With all the practice coping at the pool it makes the rest of my life seem easy. Carol, as you know, our situations have been quite similar: A.) Noodlers lobbying to get the water temp. raised B.) 3-6 (0-5 at my pool) women wanting to monopolize the entire pool C.) "We don't want to get our hair wet!" Oh yeah, put a big :censor: on that one. Once again, Mrs. Frog, I offer my :bighug: to you, as well as my total and complete sympathy and empathy. The noodlers at our pools really need to GET A LIFE! :bitching:

I found a lap swimmer with the soul of a noodler. He asks to share my lane, agrees we'll stay on our own sides, then proceeds to CIRCLE swim on his half of the lane. You heard me. He would swim up the middle, following the black line, then swim down against the wall. I could barely get past him when he was in the middle of the lane...hitting his leg, tickling his foot, accidentally high-fiving him underwater...it was awful. Then when he was done, thanked me with a big smile and left. CLUELESS!! Not to mention dangerous. :afraid: :shakeshead: Well, at least he thanked you and smiled... :rolleyes:

The answer.....Win the lottery and build a properly run facility geared toward SWIMMERS and swim teams. I'm still trying...Till then I suffer with the MANatees which are almost as bad as some Noodlers. At the Y I coach at there are 2 water aerobics classes, the noodlers (deep water) group and the actual (shallow water) hard workers. When done correctly you don't need the hot water because you should be breaking a sweat when you work out or you are not working hard enough. The others can float as easily in the hot tub!

Masters swimmers everywhere will be happy to know I did not throw it at her head. Remember back in high school? Kickboards were the aquatic equivalent of ninja throwing stars. I didn't do that. I did, however, throw it far, far onto the other side of the deck, so she'd have to get out of the pool to fetch it. I guess the message got through. I didn't have any problems with stray kickboards after that. :) You probably did her a favor, Swim'; she got more exercise fetching the kickboard than she got the entire time noodling in the pool. :bolt:

Given that this thread is almost 4 years old, I don't think anyone remembers what they may have posted to this thread in the past. Unfortunately I do; it has been a three year drama since the pool opened in our "adult" community. :shakeshead: But, some of the noodlers have not acted like adults and elevated it something resembling a lousy soap opera... :popcorn: My hope is those times are over and we can all just get along. :cheerleader:

I found a lap swimmer with the soul of a noodler. He asks to share my lane, agrees we'll stay on our own sides, then proceeds to CIRCLE swim on his half of the lane. You heard me. He would swim up the middle, following the black line, then swim down against the wall. I could barely get past him when he was in the middle of the lane...hitting his leg, tickling his foot, accidentally high-fiving him underwater...it was awful. Then when he was done, thanked me with a big smile and left. CLUELESS!! Not to mention dangerous. :afraid:

I love it when I am swimming backstroke, they enter the water and hang on the wall. This makes for a very squishy turn and push off!

I love it when I am swimming backstroke, they enter the water and hang on the wall. This makes for a very squishy turn and push off! :lmao: I'm betting they don't make that mistake twice; especially if the "squishy" was the wrong part of the anatomy! :afraid: