Hi! New guy to the forums here, and pretty new to lap swimming too -- I've been doing it since May sometime.
More than once when I've wanted to join someone in a lane I've found it difficult to get their attention. At first I thought people just didn't want to share, but then I paid attention while I was swimming and realized that when you're looking at the bottom of the pool it is indeed easy to miss someone standing on the edge.
So what do you do? I've taken to dangling my feet deep enough that they're hard to miss, but is this obnoxious? Does anybody have pointers for getting someone's attention without annoying them when you need to share a lane?
Former Member
Do a cannon ball or can opener right next to them to make them aware that you are in they lane they need to pick a side and share it with you.
AJ
But don't forget that, in sanctioned meets, warm up lanes are alternating clockwise and anti-clockwise. (At least, in Canada, they are and if memory serves, these are FINA rules.)
I dunno about the rules, but BitD, the evening AAU "A" team swam 7 lanes in a 6 lane pool w/o lane lanes. Every other lane alternated CW/CCW so you were only at risk of a head on with your own lane mates - otherwise you were swimming alongside. Everybody learned to bilateral breathe and turn either direction off the wall, for survival if nothing else. That was one crowded workout - and choppy too.
At a new pool today, in my own lane, # 7 of 10x100, I 'met' another swimmer, no harm done. I asked him, "hey, no introduction?" and he retorts, "You were just swimming all over the place!" Yeah, old habit of slowly drifting across to the far left side of the lane into the wall, as soon as the last person in the lane would go by - especially when you know #2 behind you is drafting, pecking at your toes . . . So, he obviously had watched me, but couldn't wait the 1:20 to say 'hey - circle or split?'
When I was done I realized the quards had put the stupid placards up and I was in the 'slow' lane as opposed to medium, fast or very fast. When I guarded, I took charge of my pool and I would routinely move swimmers from lane to lane as some finished and others came in. Pretty please, of course. Like any other culture, it's up to the older wiser to educate the younger/newer.
Do a cannon ball or can opener right next to them to make them aware that you are in they lane they need to pick a side and share it with you.
AJ
From the Files of Stupid Swimmer Antics:
My summer job in '64 and '65 was lifeguarding at Carpinteria State Beach. There were lifeguard competitions between the different beaches all over SoCal throughout the summerand it was very competitive, so we were expected to workout at the Biltmore Hotel Pool (LCM) every morning. Some of the guys took this training a little more serious than the majority of us slackers. The slackers revenge was to wait until the gung ho guy was coming into his deep end turn then bomb him, one guy to each side and slightly ahead of the swimmer, from the 10 meter tower, of course exercising caution not to hurt our friend, :afraid:but guaranteed to get his attention.
I would always prefer to split a lane if I can. If I'm second in, I stick my feet in for a lap to send the signal I'm entering the pool. If I see someone approaching my lane, I pick a side to send the signal which side I want. At most of the pools I swim, there is a wide variety of skill levels and assuming a circle will only cause problems.
Of course, pool management by lifeguards and aquatic directors makes all the difference in the world. While on a business trip to DC, I swam at a pool in Arlington that filled up enough to necessitate circle swimming. There were placards clearly indicating which speeds belonged in which lanes. Third swimmer in always knew to stick feet in right side of lane for one pass by each swimmer, and swimmers in then knew to stop splitting and start circling.
Asking the lifeguard what's customary at that particular pool goes a long way.
I used to swim at 24 Hour Fitness. Like most people, I like to have a lane to myself, but I'm aware I don't own the lane. If the pool starts getting crowded, I'll swim to the side so someone can get in without stopping me, but if the pool is empty, I admit, I get lazy and sort of drift in the center. Anyway, this guy gets in without telling me, I'm not wearing my contacts so I can't see him. When I get to the wall, I ask him very nicely to inform the person that you want to share. He proceeds to call me a **itch, goes on about how I think I'm so much better then everyone else and that he doesn't need to "ask permission" and so on. My husband was close to killing him and 24 Hour Fitness being 24 Hour Fitness didn't do a darn thing.
I swim at Bally's now and it's so much nicer. They have 2 6-lane pools so when I swim on my own, it's actually very rare that I have to share and I also find that people actually swim there as opposed to noodling :)
