How do you deal with a slow non-stop swimmer in your lane?

Former Member
Former Member
There is a swimmer in our pool whose appearance is "dreaded" by many of us. As soon as she enters your lane and starts her laps, the whole lane gets slowed down for a at least an hour, because, #1, she never stops and never give a chance to others when she's at the end of the pool and is going for another lap while another swimmer had been waiting to start; #2, whenever she encounters someone during the laps (whether in the same or opposite direction), she would continue as if others don't exist, as if it's her own lane and as if she's thinking "get out of my way please"; #3, and that's the most important point: she's slower than all the others in the lane. So everyone else has to slow down because the lane is not so wide, and from time to time you see people try everything they could to get around her, or backstrokers hitting her from behind (and she would still go on like you were just a fly). She usually continues like this for at least one hour, could be 90 minutes. She probably has her rule in mind, to never stop during the lap. That's fine as many of people here do that, but that works only if your speed is comparable to the others sharing the lane. What's the best way to deal with such a fellow swimmer?
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 15 years ago
    She's not old, she's in her 20's. Yes, the lane is very narrow, it seems to be built for exactly 2 people in parallel and no more. Whenever there are three people swimming in parallel, what happens is usually the middle person would hold back his/her arms and quickly slip through underwater then resume his/her strokes. And again as I said, having such a swimmer in your lane is worse than having an 80-yr-old who just stands/floats still within a small area whom you just need to pass at that one spot then go on. As for the suggestion to talk to her, I think people haven't done that probably thinking as what some of you said, she has her right just as everyone else (which I agree). I tend to agree the strategy of returning the same, so maybe when we are both at the same end of the pool I should not wait since she doesn't wait ;)
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 15 years ago
    She's not old, she's in her 20's. Yes, the lane is very narrow, it seems to be built for exactly 2 people in parallel and no more. Whenever there are three people swimming in parallel, what happens is usually the middle person would hold back his/her arms and quickly slip through underwater then resume his/her strokes. And again as I said, having such a swimmer in your lane is worse than having an 80-yr-old who just stands/floats still within a small area whom you just need to pass at that one spot then go on. As for the suggestion to talk to her, I think people haven't done that probably thinking as what some of you said, she has her right just as everyone else (which I agree). I tend to agree the strategy of returning the same, so maybe when we are both at the same end of the pool I should not wait since she doesn't wait ;)
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