Swimming pool etiquette

An already busy pool I meant.

Damn phone.

Some people like myself go to the pool just to relieve their aching limbs and that won't happen in a steam room and my leisure centre doesn't have a Jacuzzi. I do swim as well for some of the time. What my swimming companions and myself hate is inconsiderate fast swimmers, who crash into us, when they could go in the lanes reserved for strong swimmers. The comments work both ways, I'm afraid.

I'm not a fast swimmer which is why I don't go in the fast lane. But even ordinary swimmers find it dicfi8to avoid banging into people who ard just standing talking in a group at the end of the pool.

Our pool has set times for families, classes and serious swimmers.

I should go for health reasons but don't because I am a poor swimmer and am worried about people like yourself who feel I am in the way.I don't chatter with friends though.

I’m just constantly amazed by the ladies who swim up and down the pool chatting as they go. It’s all I can do to remember to breathe, let alone chat!?

I’m afraid I develop poolrage, but it’s mostly for those determined up and downers who seem to think they don’t have to accommodate other pool users with a little swerve, a slowing of pace and who think the end of the pool is there especially for them to perform their turn before ploughing back through anyone else that they think is in their space.

I have been known to deliberately float in the path of a “this is my lane, out of my way” in an open pool where the signs clearly say casual swimming.

It is the splashy front crawl swimmers who annoy me. They do not need to splash so much.

If they don’t have ‘lane* swimming then it free swimming, they have as much right to stand around or potter around as you do swimming up and down I’m afraid.

beswitched I've given up swimming because of the conflict you have identified. It's all about too many people and not enough public resources. It seems to me that swimming pools are for swimming as suggested by the name. Those who want to chat could easily chat elsewhere but no, let's be unkind, the English way.
BTW, it's quite hard to swim crawl properly without splashing.

My local pool has certain sessions just for lane swimming. I don’t like this, I either feel I have to go faster so I don’t hold others up, or am treading water behind slow swimmers. It stops people chatting at the end however.
I try and go to non lane sessions, also hate women swimming in pairs talking and looking annoyed if anyone dares to go through the middle of them.
I would like my own private pool really.
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Tough, I always did widths, could swim, hated deep water

We get swimming ‘ rage’ in our pool! We have lanes for serious swimmers, but always get the slow swimmers trying to overtake the really slow swimmers, like lorries on the motorway! If people stand around , we regulars ask them to move to the other side, or swim. The lifeguards never notice!

I used to swim at masters level and once stopped at the deep end to adjust my goggles. In a matter of seconds, another swimmer executed a perfect tumble turn using my back to push off. I've never got in another lane swimmer's way since..... Seriously, there is a general etiquette when lane swimming but in the absence of lanes, I think it's definitely up to the 'lapper' to be considerate and not plough into other people.

No. It is thoughtless and inconsiderate.
I used to go swimming regularly, in a private and expensive gym pool, and there were two women who somehow managed to take up the two thirds of the pool, one third being reserved for fast swimmers, by walking up and down very slowly and stopping every two or three minutes for a chat. They could have walked at the edge of the pool, but somehow managed to spread across all the available swimming space available, so all the other swimmers used to crash into each other.

I am a poor swimmer and stick to the lane next to the side so that I can grab it if necessary. My husband is a strong swimmer. When we were younger he used to power through the pool doing a range of strokes including butterfly. He seemed totally oblivious to others in his path until I asked quite mildly one day whether he had paid more to use the pool than others. After a blank stare the penny dropped. He quickly conceded that the weakest swimmer in the pool had paid the same and had as much right to 'potter' as he had to 'power'. In fact without any other prompting he acknowledged that as a strong swimmer it was easier for him to navigate the slower swimmers than the other way around. By the same token I am aware that my 'pottering' does affect others and l do my best to stay out of the way of stronger, more confident swimmers. A bit of consideration all round goes along way.

Good post 52bright.

Thankyou Greenfinch

But that's not what I'm talking about 52bright. I'm talking about people who just hang out in the pool chatting for ages, making no attempt to swim ie exercise and making it very diffic8for other people to use the pool for its intended purpose.

Surely your pool has a few lanes roped off for those who want to do lengths?

No only a couple of fadt lanes. It's a gym swimming pool, no under 18s allowed and almost everyone is swimming or walking up and down the pool. It gets very crowded at certain times and it's very difficult for people to find a space where they can swim up and down without getting in someone's way. Most people, as soon as they've finished swimming get out and use the other facilities.

I can't believe someone would deliberately float in front of someone who's simy trying too swim up and down in a straight line.

The lanes are for laps. The rest is "freestyle" float in one spot. Chase your tail in circles, whatever.

Not in our pool notanan. There are lanes for fast swimmers and the rest of the pool is for ordinary swimming, exercising and walking. It's a gym pool not a public one.

Yes in your poole, as per your OP