How in the world do you approach the wall on the right side of the lane, flip, and depart on the other side without running into someone?
Up to this point, I guess have led a fairly charmed Masters Swimming life. On all the teams I've swum with, it was rare to circle swim. No more! I'm now swimming LCM with half a dozen others sharing the lane, which is great, but I can't flip turn now to save my life.
Normally, I come straight into the wall, flip straight over onto my back, come straight off the wall, and roll over in the streamline. That won't cut it in circle swim. How do you do it? I have to either lead the lane, and sneak over to the left coming into the wall, or go last and stay on the right.
What's the technique?
I learned to do flip turns only this year (age 58). Now I feel like I've been doing them all my life! In my masters' team, we always circle swim with a five-second delay between swimmers. I found when I was first starting that I did okay as long as there were only two or three people in the lane. Any more than that and I would get too nervous to concentrate and would then revert to open turns. After a couple of months, however, I learned to relax and not worry, especially about the person coming after me (they can see me—I can't see them). I usually try to hit the wall dead center, turning slightly inward after the 5-yard marker and heading slightly outward after I kick off. That keeps me close to the lane ropes both coming and going.
I learned to do flip turns only this year (age 58). Now I feel like I've been doing them all my life! In my masters' team, we always circle swim with a five-second delay between swimmers. I found when I was first starting that I did okay as long as there were only two or three people in the lane. Any more than that and I would get too nervous to concentrate and would then revert to open turns. After a couple of months, however, I learned to relax and not worry, especially about the person coming after me (they can see me—I can't see them). I usually try to hit the wall dead center, turning slightly inward after the 5-yard marker and heading slightly outward after I kick off. That keeps me close to the lane ropes both coming and going.
