I think his neck injury would be from checking out the woman in the pool. His mistake was not making sure the goggles mirrored :)
If he dies while swimming, is there not a better way to go?
The Swiss Cottage Sports Center is a great place for lap swimming in London. Everything in London is expensive but for around $8 you can get a good workout in a beautiful 25 meter pool. Weight rooms are included in the price and there is a nice restaurant overlooking the pool. It's a great spot.
I never saw anyone there like that dude.
For $31.00 a month I can swim everday in three 25 meter pools in our town all three have huge fitness centers.
I saw a guy in one of the pools the other day and he had almost the identical mask and a snorkel.
Boy, I don't know, it's just a dive mask for crying out loud and dive masks are NOT glass; haven't seen a glass mask in, what, 30 years? and even if it is optical prescription, it is still plastic. Optometrists don't use glass for goggles or masks anymore; at least not that I have seen or heard unless requested.
I wonder if he had added a snorkel if they would have allowed it. Stupid thing to ban someone because he uses a dive mask; it's not that he's into racing and setting records; probably just enjoyment. Hey, this guy's a senior citizen and enjoying swimming for health and fun; I commend him. (he's MY age!)
Donna
Boy, I don't know, it's just a dive mask for crying out loud and dive masks are NOT glass; haven't seen a glass mask in, what, 30 years?...Donna
I just hauled my snorkel mask out of the closet to look at it, and stamped on the lens it says "tempered glass". It's three years old, not an expensive one at all, but I seem to recall that the masks in a local dive shop in all price ranges were also stamped "tempered glass" the last time I was in there browsing. So presumably this fellow is using one that doesn't have that stamp on it and it may very well be more than 30 years old. (The black rubber is sort of a give-away, as mask gaskets now tend to come in clear or colorful silicon.)
I've seen people training for winter vacations in snorkel gear at the local pool, and the lifeguards don't seem to mind, so that little stamp on the bottom of the lens may make all the difference. Or, as another poster suggested, perhaps the guy was being a jerk in other ways and that was just the technicality they needed to get rid of him.
I have to think there's more to this story than just kicking the guy out for wearing this mask.
I'm inclined to agree. I would think first they would have asked him to replace the facemask with either goggles or some other shatter-proof alternative.
It's actually kinda sad that someone decided this was newsworthy. From the spin on the story--notice the way the headline was worded, the quote from the man and the paraphrased response from the manager--it sounds like this guy really took it personally and decided to raise a stink.
Has anyone ever seen a mask shatter?
Would it explode into a dangerous fireball of injury, death, and lawsuits?
I would pay to see goggles explode into a massive fireball.
Seriously, it's glass people. It's a dumb thing to have this on the deck at all...but I can understand all his complaining if all these other pools are allowing it and one is not.
Where I lifeguarded a few years back masks were not allowed. We were told it was because if you had to do CPR and put a mask on the guy it would interfere and every second counts (and you know how those things can some times kind of suction to your face pretty good). Anyways, it was a new pool at the time and a lot of people did not like this rule at all, we had an older gentleman who fought about it and tried to bring his mask in every time he came in hoping none of the guards would notice. I think the aquatics director finally agreed that if it was an experienced diver (not sure how she would be able to prove that) they could wear the mask, if it was a child or someone who didn't know what they were doing, they couldn't do it.
