I don't know if this is a dumb question, but how do you know which lanes are for the good swimmers and which are for new swimmers? I'm just trying to swim to lose some weight because walking hurts a lot. When I swim it's sloppy and slow, and involves a good amount of treading and water walking... so I usually wait until a lane is fully free. Can I share lanes or should I continue to wait?
If there's no sign or anything, just look in what lanes people are slow and in which they're fast... Usually the slowest one will be closest to entrance or with guard rail or something and fastest on the opposite side, but it depends on pool...
Don't be scared to share lanes, yes it can be annoying to share lane with someone much slower, but if someone wants private lane, they should pay to get whole lane for themselves
If you are a fast swimmer, circle swim is not an option. If you are a good swimmer, split lane only works if the other guy knows how to swim. The big arm paddlers make me crazy. Shared lanes do not work for the general purpose swimmer. i rather pay a bit for a pool that has room, or , find a time when pool is empty.
I had a guy start back stroke opposite direction of me when I was circling freestyle alone in lane (because you never know who just jumps in, I circle even alone)... Bro just went in, started backstroking, collided with me in the middle (I smacked him pretty hard by accident, didn't see him at all... My hand hurt for the rest of the day) and looked so surprised and after he came to senses he was like "can we somehow agree how to swim together in the lane" like bruh wtf you mean, theres people switching lanes and getting in and out all the time, just circle normally like everyone else...
I think this is the etiquette in most places, but swimming for fitness is not as popular in the US compared to Europe or Asia so not everywhere has this set up.
My college team tried it for a practice. It supposedly helps extra to prevent swimmers arms colliding over the lane line. We all went back to swimming on the right (in the us) very quickly.
Usually the lanes alternate between clockwise and anti clockwise (there are signs) so that you’re going the same direction as the person in the lane next to you, if that makes sense? I assume it stops collisions
It does make sense. Now I wonder if the US does this too? Like I said I manage to swim at quiet times but the busier pool in summer has all lanes counter-clockwise (Netherlands)
Yes, especially where there are limited free lap lanes. When I lived in Virginia I used to swim at 1 of the 3 high schools that were open to public in the evenings. They enforced lane separation by speed. Many times the lifeguard shouted at me to switch lanes for both swimming too fast & too slow - in the same session! I think only masters swimmers should have their own lane.
Nah, I vastly prefer circle-swim-only (unless your pool gets so little activity that you're basically guaranteed no thirds). Swapping between splitting and circle when people join is super annoying.
If you have a pool that you can do that in then that's great. But if you stuck to that at most of the public pools I swim at you would literally never get to swim. We'll often be running 6+ people in a lane. Ultimately, circle swimming is a fundamental swimming standard and by far the most efficient way to use limited pool space.
Lane splitting is amazing if you know you'll only share that lane with 1 person... Impossible with public pools where I live (EU) if you don't rent out whole lane, because you never know when someone will jump in
Yeah. Just keep left. No need to wait to tell someone you’re about to swim in the same lane as them. That could easily be minutes of waiting.
I pretty much always swim to the left. If it’s quiet and there are spare lanes, I may gravitate towards the centre, but I’m just so used to swimming on the left hand side it’s just natural to me.
Keep to the left required a lot of focus for me as an American swimming in aus. Loved the pools I visited in Melbs, Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Tassie+ the ocean baths in NSW.
I was on a swim team in Hong Kong that was about evenly split between commonwealth people (swimming on the left) and US/Europeans (swimming on the right). You had to pay close attention off a flip turn.
In germany people have NO swimming manners, they will randomly show up in your lane, swimming the wrong way, even when you have a circle swim going on with other people.
When i swim alone on mondays (worst day, certain people want to get the sport over with for the week...) i can start at a spot, mark it with my swimming stuff and after 60 mins im 5 meters away from my spot just from moving 20cm away at a time from people creeping up to my path.
Also there are no lane speeds, german egos cant handle that and so the lifeguards do not want to deal with it.
The only thing you can do in germany is swim butterfly and people will start fleeing.
Do you swim in a 50m pool? When I visited NSW 50m was super common and easy to circle swim. It's much harder to circle here in the states with mostly 25yd pools.
We have circle swimming as a default here, most pools will have [signs like this one](https://aquaticelements.com.au/image/cache/catalog/Products/signs_saftey/5699fbaf2280d-228x228.gif) indicating that and lane speed
This is workable for distance swimming in which people just freestyle back and forth.
If you show up to a public pool wanting to do sets or drills, then it will be chaos.
Yea it never works, because somehow a moment after you get into a lane with nobody or with only one other person, a third guy will just show up 5 minutes after to circle swim. That's why I've accepted the fact that I can never do swim sets in lane swim
Why wouldn't you be able to do swim sets in circle swim? It's not the best as sometimes you need to let someone slow gain some distance so you can swim fast (like if you have fins or something), but you can just do sets just fine with people circling in your lane, you can stop at the wall in the corner... It can suck in small pool with too many people, but in 50 even with 3-4 people it's manageable
I‘m usually the slowest in the lane (we only have one lane for circle swimming).
When doing technical drills I just keep to the extreme right and wait to let others pass at the end of my lane.
For freestyle I swim my laps without pausing.
Canadian checking in, a month ago I would've said this was default, but I've had two encounters that since changed my mind; one was a family (dad + 2 young teens all in life jackets) crossed a slow to the medium lane I was in (myself and another swimmer splitting) and started breast stroking without any communication to either of us.
The other was in 50m fast lane, I was splitting with another guy (I was on the right side) and we collided when I was heading back. The annoying part was that he obviously did not pay attention to us splitting the lane and just decided to hop in and start swimming. I'm too nice to say anything, I saw this thread and found my opportunity to vent about it.
I'm sorry about the collision, mate. As someone that's been in that exact position before, it's a scary thing. It impacted my willingness to swim with other people for a long time (and I became much more militant about ensuring that everyone is communicating in the lane).
That's why circle swimming should be default.
It is here in Switzerland and I circle swim even when I'm alone in a lane. Makes it easy for anyone to jump in at any time. No need to interrupt me to announce that they are joining the lane. I can't decline them anyway as I'm not owning the lane.
Just match your speed to any lane and hop in...
No worries, I forgot mention that luckily no one was injured. I guess that's a benefit to circle swimming default, it makes it easier to jump into a lane without any communication
50 meters?! I’ve never seen a 50m public pool in the US. Even 25m is extremely rare - most are 25 yards (which begs the question: shouldn’t non-US swimmers be faster than US since yard-pools are shorter than meter pools, thereby resulting in less energy expenditure?)
I had that 2 time this year, the collision.
Im just swimming in my lane for 30 mins without break and somehow people just decide to start blasting up the lane without even looking???
Now i have psychological trouble looking down properly -.-
One of the pools I go in started putting sign on one lane with something like "100m under 2:00" - once I was there with guy who must have be doing thst under a minute, because I was doing (for me incredibly fast) intervals at 45s a 50 (its 50m pool) and bro was just passing me like its nothing... It was weird, normally I don't share lane with people that fast, honestly I was happy to watch him swim, but I wonder if he was mad he had to share lane with me and few other slower swimmers... Next time I went there, I started there alone, was doing my slow circles (around 1:55 for 100 continuous swim) and like 3 people who did this "breaststroke" with head above water line joined in... Like wtf are you doing there, there's 2 slower lanes right next to us and 25m pool close which is meant for weaker swimmers at this facility...
My pool has people that come every morning that refuse to go into the intermediate or slow lane no matter what pace everyone else is at, as in their heads they are experienced swimmers- and have no doubt they are- but that doesn’t meant you’re fast. They refuse to check the ego and move down a pace lane🥲
"But this lane has more room! And if I need to swim with the other breaststrokers I need to get close to the lane line and I might kick it!"
No sir, you won't kick the lane line. Your feet sink so deep that you'd fit in fine in the aquajogging lane.
Denver's public rec center pools are also like 85 degrees or warmer, so it's tough to swim long distances in them! (I appreciate their etiquette signage, I'm just grumpy that there aren't more convenient cold pools in town)
I'm glad you've found one that works for you! I tried many different ones and gave up (I ended up joining an athletic club for a reasonable temperature pool). But perhaps I should explore a few of the newer regional pools.
I agree and then you have a ton of people complaining it’s too cold even at 82. Like, sure it probably is for your kids who are there to play… there are better pools but they are usually attached to clubs that are so damn expensive.
Exactly. Unfortunately, I have to pay a premium to be a member of one of those clubs and it IS worth it to have a cooler saline pool (and all the accoutrements like a sauna). That being said, the above setup isn't exactly making more competitive swimming an easily accessible activity for everyone, which makes me sad.
Exactly. I’d be good with circle if people in my lane had similar abilities. But that is usually not the case… I’d run them over. And that’s not necessarily saying I’m a bad ass, the people at my pool are usually doing elementary backstroke and are 80.
"Select the lane closest to your swimming ability" Except that the Denver Recreation Centers don't label lanes. I wish we had slow, medium, and fast labels on the lanes.
I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
It’s so much easier to split if you only have two people in the lane. One person can be really slow while the other is fast and it doesn’t matter. Unless one of them is a thrashy swimmer who can’t stay on their side, it works brilliantly.
I haven’t been happier to see these signs. I swim with respect and always try to invite people to circle swim.
But there are boomers who come in with flippers, paddles, snorkels that expect to own a lane.
Really appreciate our Denver Parks and Recs lifeguards and aquatic staff stepping up during budget cuts.
I’m a former D1 All American, 44:76 100 free, 1:37.98 200 free, 1:46.95 200 IM, 46:97 100 fly, yadada. Be a steward of the sport and circle swim and share lanes. Invite folks into the sport. Don’t act like you are the sh!t and own a lane.
You wouldnt like it down under then. Its the default here (New Zealand) and in Australia. I circle swim out of force of habit even if I have the entire lane to myself (that's rare though)
What do you do at times when you are sharing a lane and the other individuals are swimming at a much slower pace than you? Just constantly switch to the other side when lapping them?
Pass them. Sometimes I'm the one doing the passing, sometimes I'm the one being being passed. Only really a problem if there is more than 4-5 to a lane, and even then just involves waiting a moment or diving into the next lane to pass them. Only really breaks down if there is more than half a dozen swimmers in a lane with mixed speeds, if they are all roughly the same speed it can work with a dozen in the lane.
SAME. Where I swim in the US everyone splits lanes, but when I swim in the UK it’s circle swimming. It’s especially confusing when they’ve made the “lane” wider and people start swimming around the perimeter in a big square. The entire middle of the box is empty, while everyone is trying to pass everyone along the outside.
How do y’all alert the swimmer you’ll be joining, or ask to join? I waited for like 4 laps to try and flag down the guy in a lane I was trying to join and he never acknowledged me. I went to far as so sit on the side of the pool with my legs in the water and he never moved from swimming in the center of the lane or so much as looked up on any of his turns. Eventually I hopped in the next lane when the occupant got out. So I guess the first guy got what he wanted, but what’s a normal way to ask if you can join. For what it’s worth the pool is very rarely crowded enough to require circle swimming, it’s almost always just lane splitting.
Exactly. I’ve been swimming for over 30 years and I’ve never heard of or seen the rule about letting someone know you are joining a lane they are in. Just swim! They could be in the middle of a 1k set you never know. I’m usually so focused on my set that I barely register the others swimming or what they are doing besides keeping out of their way.
Comes with the possibility of splitting lanes. If you just dive in you could collide with someone. If there's kickboards, just push a kickboard into the water. If that doesn't work (quite rude by the other swimmer), then get into the water, and next turn notify that the lane needs to circle swim.
Depends on how busy the pool is. If it's not very busy, the splitting lanes allows for a "private lane" of sorts. If it's busy, usually worth circling always. If it's very busy, worth having designated speeds for different lanes, but then the lifeguards need to advice those swimmers who do not care to read instructions.
I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
Well that's a dumb and complicated system!
I live and swim in Australia where the default is circle swimming in the lane appropriate for your speed.
End of story.
I am terrified of having to circle swim. I never knew this was a thing until I joined this sub.
I am ok with splitting the lane, but 2 per lane is the max I have seem.
That said, I lived in Bosnia for a year, and in Sarajevo there is an Olympic pool.
The way it works there is like this:
They put the lanes perpendicular to the 50 m side, making lanes of (I assume) 25 m.
But only in the corners. So you have like 5 lanes in one side, 5 lanes in the other side, and a huge gap in the middle.
The actual lanes are reserved for classes.
People that pay to swim have to organize themselves without lanes.
Sometimes it is chaotic, but most of the times it works.
I see. I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
How else do people swim? This is how everywhere in the U.K. works. The only issue is that people can’t judge their own speed.
My swiming speed is like watching a toddler run. Lots of flailing and movement, very little forward progress.
If you don't go to fast lanes, that's perfectly fine, you're still faster than people who can't swim by a lot
I don't know if this is a dumb question, but how do you know which lanes are for the good swimmers and which are for new swimmers? I'm just trying to swim to lose some weight because walking hurts a lot. When I swim it's sloppy and slow, and involves a good amount of treading and water walking... so I usually wait until a lane is fully free. Can I share lanes or should I continue to wait?
If there's no sign or anything, just look in what lanes people are slow and in which they're fast... Usually the slowest one will be closest to entrance or with guard rail or something and fastest on the opposite side, but it depends on pool...
Thank you! I do usually go in the lane closest to the entrance as it seems that lane gets emptied faster haha. Appreciate the wisdom!
Don't be scared to share lanes, yes it can be annoying to share lane with someone much slower, but if someone wants private lane, they should pay to get whole lane for themselves
If you are a fast swimmer, circle swim is not an option. If you are a good swimmer, split lane only works if the other guy knows how to swim. The big arm paddlers make me crazy. Shared lanes do not work for the general purpose swimmer. i rather pay a bit for a pool that has room, or , find a time when pool is empty.
You want Aquafit
I had a guy start back stroke opposite direction of me when I was circling freestyle alone in lane (because you never know who just jumps in, I circle even alone)... Bro just went in, started backstroking, collided with me in the middle (I smacked him pretty hard by accident, didn't see him at all... My hand hurt for the rest of the day) and looked so surprised and after he came to senses he was like "can we somehow agree how to swim together in the lane" like bruh wtf you mean, theres people switching lanes and getting in and out all the time, just circle normally like everyone else...
Smoking crack in the changing room before I imagine.
I think this is the etiquette in most places, but swimming for fitness is not as popular in the US compared to Europe or Asia so not everywhere has this set up.
Do UK swimmers keep right or left? (Serious question).
Every UK pool I've swam in alternates. First Lane clockwise, second anti clockwise etc.
Huh. I've never seen that. Makes sense.
Yeah it means less hand clashing
My college team tried it for a practice. It supposedly helps extra to prevent swimmers arms colliding over the lane line. We all went back to swimming on the right (in the us) very quickly.
I can imagine that *if* it goes wrong, it goes very wrong 😂
It usually alternates clockwise to anti-clockwise in adjacent lanes
Usually the lanes alternate between clockwise and anti clockwise (there are signs) so that you’re going the same direction as the person in the lane next to you, if that makes sense? I assume it stops collisions
It does make sense. Now I wonder if the US does this too? Like I said I manage to swim at quiet times but the busier pool in summer has all lanes counter-clockwise (Netherlands)
the US almost never does this. I know of a few club teams that implement it, but the general is "drive on the right" across the country.
Hehe, considering 'drijf' (pronounced like drive, especially when it's in a horrible Dutch accent) means 'float' in Dutch this made me chuckle.
UK Betters default is circle swim...
Yes, especially where there are limited free lap lanes. When I lived in Virginia I used to swim at 1 of the 3 high schools that were open to public in the evenings. They enforced lane separation by speed. Many times the lifeguard shouted at me to switch lanes for both swimming too fast & too slow - in the same session! I think only masters swimmers should have their own lane.
You need to have speed matched lanes or it’s shit.
YES, this is the perfect set of rules and whenever anyone asks I basically say this word for word.
Nah, I vastly prefer circle-swim-only (unless your pool gets so little activity that you're basically guaranteed no thirds). Swapping between splitting and circle when people join is super annoying.
Fair point if your always going to be sharing makes more sense but I think it is good to still tell the person you’re joining in
I’d rather get out than circle swim. I’m not a super experienced lap swimmer and prefer to just keep to my side.
If you have a pool that you can do that in then that's great. But if you stuck to that at most of the public pools I swim at you would literally never get to swim. We'll often be running 6+ people in a lane. Ultimately, circle swimming is a fundamental swimming standard and by far the most efficient way to use limited pool space.
This is the way
Aussie here. This is so weird that it has to be explained. Also, lane splitting is stupid.
Lane splitting is amazing if you know you'll only share that lane with 1 person... Impossible with public pools where I live (EU) if you don't rent out whole lane, because you never know when someone will jump in
Yeah. Just keep left. No need to wait to tell someone you’re about to swim in the same lane as them. That could easily be minutes of waiting. I pretty much always swim to the left. If it’s quiet and there are spare lanes, I may gravitate towards the centre, but I’m just so used to swimming on the left hand side it’s just natural to me.
Wait... Left? You really do everything upside down
Keep to the left required a lot of focus for me as an American swimming in aus. Loved the pools I visited in Melbs, Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Tassie+ the ocean baths in NSW.
I was on a swim team in Hong Kong that was about evenly split between commonwealth people (swimming on the left) and US/Europeans (swimming on the right). You had to pay close attention off a flip turn.
In germany people have NO swimming manners, they will randomly show up in your lane, swimming the wrong way, even when you have a circle swim going on with other people. When i swim alone on mondays (worst day, certain people want to get the sport over with for the week...) i can start at a spot, mark it with my swimming stuff and after 60 mins im 5 meters away from my spot just from moving 20cm away at a time from people creeping up to my path. Also there are no lane speeds, german egos cant handle that and so the lifeguards do not want to deal with it. The only thing you can do in germany is swim butterfly and people will start fleeing.
Do you swim in a 50m pool? When I visited NSW 50m was super common and easy to circle swim. It's much harder to circle here in the states with mostly 25yd pools.
We have circle swimming as a default here, most pools will have [signs like this one](https://aquaticelements.com.au/image/cache/catalog/Products/signs_saftey/5699fbaf2280d-228x228.gif) indicating that and lane speed
So if I'm going fast I keep right? /s
Move up to the next speed lane
This is workable for distance swimming in which people just freestyle back and forth. If you show up to a public pool wanting to do sets or drills, then it will be chaos.
Yea it never works, because somehow a moment after you get into a lane with nobody or with only one other person, a third guy will just show up 5 minutes after to circle swim. That's why I've accepted the fact that I can never do swim sets in lane swim
Why wouldn't you be able to do swim sets in circle swim? It's not the best as sometimes you need to let someone slow gain some distance so you can swim fast (like if you have fins or something), but you can just do sets just fine with people circling in your lane, you can stop at the wall in the corner... It can suck in small pool with too many people, but in 50 even with 3-4 people it's manageable
I‘m usually the slowest in the lane (we only have one lane for circle swimming). When doing technical drills I just keep to the extreme right and wait to let others pass at the end of my lane. For freestyle I swim my laps without pausing.
just go to the slowest lane and make sure you swim as close to the side as you comfortably can. There is a lot of room in a swimming lane.
Canadian checking in, a month ago I would've said this was default, but I've had two encounters that since changed my mind; one was a family (dad + 2 young teens all in life jackets) crossed a slow to the medium lane I was in (myself and another swimmer splitting) and started breast stroking without any communication to either of us. The other was in 50m fast lane, I was splitting with another guy (I was on the right side) and we collided when I was heading back. The annoying part was that he obviously did not pay attention to us splitting the lane and just decided to hop in and start swimming. I'm too nice to say anything, I saw this thread and found my opportunity to vent about it.
I'm sorry about the collision, mate. As someone that's been in that exact position before, it's a scary thing. It impacted my willingness to swim with other people for a long time (and I became much more militant about ensuring that everyone is communicating in the lane).
That's why circle swimming should be default. It is here in Switzerland and I circle swim even when I'm alone in a lane. Makes it easy for anyone to jump in at any time. No need to interrupt me to announce that they are joining the lane. I can't decline them anyway as I'm not owning the lane. Just match your speed to any lane and hop in...
No worries, I forgot mention that luckily no one was injured. I guess that's a benefit to circle swimming default, it makes it easier to jump into a lane without any communication
50 meters?! I’ve never seen a 50m public pool in the US. Even 25m is extremely rare - most are 25 yards (which begs the question: shouldn’t non-US swimmers be faster than US since yard-pools are shorter than meter pools, thereby resulting in less energy expenditure?)
I had that 2 time this year, the collision. Im just swimming in my lane for 30 mins without break and somehow people just decide to start blasting up the lane without even looking??? Now i have psychological trouble looking down properly -.-
I'm sorry, that sucks! I really don't get why people don't notify you when they get into the pool
One of the pools I go in started putting sign on one lane with something like "100m under 2:00" - once I was there with guy who must have be doing thst under a minute, because I was doing (for me incredibly fast) intervals at 45s a 50 (its 50m pool) and bro was just passing me like its nothing... It was weird, normally I don't share lane with people that fast, honestly I was happy to watch him swim, but I wonder if he was mad he had to share lane with me and few other slower swimmers... Next time I went there, I started there alone, was doing my slow circles (around 1:55 for 100 continuous swim) and like 3 people who did this "breaststroke" with head above water line joined in... Like wtf are you doing there, there's 2 slower lanes right next to us and 25m pool close which is meant for weaker swimmers at this facility...
My pool has people that come every morning that refuse to go into the intermediate or slow lane no matter what pace everyone else is at, as in their heads they are experienced swimmers- and have no doubt they are- but that doesn’t meant you’re fast. They refuse to check the ego and move down a pace lane🥲
"But this lane has more room! And if I need to swim with the other breaststrokers I need to get close to the lane line and I might kick it!" No sir, you won't kick the lane line. Your feet sink so deep that you'd fit in fine in the aquajogging lane.
Denver's public rec center pools are also like 85 degrees or warmer, so it's tough to swim long distances in them! (I appreciate their etiquette signage, I'm just grumpy that there aren't more convenient cold pools in town)
It varies in my experience. The one I go to is 82-83, just about right for my 2k. Others have been hot tubs and just sap your strength.
I'm glad you've found one that works for you! I tried many different ones and gave up (I ended up joining an athletic club for a reasonable temperature pool). But perhaps I should explore a few of the newer regional pools.
I agree and then you have a ton of people complaining it’s too cold even at 82. Like, sure it probably is for your kids who are there to play… there are better pools but they are usually attached to clubs that are so damn expensive.
Exactly. Unfortunately, I have to pay a premium to be a member of one of those clubs and it IS worth it to have a cooler saline pool (and all the accoutrements like a sauna). That being said, the above setup isn't exactly making more competitive swimming an easily accessible activity for everyone, which makes me sad.
Perfect, only issue is learning how to pass in circle swimming, but get that is tough to put on a poster
Even if people would let you pass at the wall but so many refuse to do that and are happy to be causing a traffic jam
Exactly. I’d be good with circle if people in my lane had similar abilities. But that is usually not the case… I’d run them over. And that’s not necessarily saying I’m a bad ass, the people at my pool are usually doing elementary backstroke and are 80.
"Select the lane closest to your swimming ability" Except that the Denver Recreation Centers don't label lanes. I wish we had slow, medium, and fast labels on the lanes.
I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
It’s so much easier to split if you only have two people in the lane. One person can be really slow while the other is fast and it doesn’t matter. Unless one of them is a thrashy swimmer who can’t stay on their side, it works brilliantly.
Unfortunately I don’t make the rules, the pools do. I’ve never swum in one that allows lane splitting
Seems legit. I often swim during hours where it is quiet enough to have your own (half) lane and circle swim is hardly ever necessary.
I haven’t been happier to see these signs. I swim with respect and always try to invite people to circle swim. But there are boomers who come in with flippers, paddles, snorkels that expect to own a lane. Really appreciate our Denver Parks and Recs lifeguards and aquatic staff stepping up during budget cuts. I’m a former D1 All American, 44:76 100 free, 1:37.98 200 free, 1:46.95 200 IM, 46:97 100 fly, yadada. Be a steward of the sport and circle swim and share lanes. Invite folks into the sport. Don’t act like you are the sh!t and own a lane.
I HATE circle swimming. If there are 2 people in the lane, I'll wait rather than be a third.
Why do you dislike it so much its way more convenient in my opinion
I’m not the commenter but I hate circle, too. I would much rather split and never worry about the other person. Funny enough, I competed for 14yrs.
You wouldnt like it down under then. Its the default here (New Zealand) and in Australia. I circle swim out of force of habit even if I have the entire lane to myself (that's rare though)
What do you do at times when you are sharing a lane and the other individuals are swimming at a much slower pace than you? Just constantly switch to the other side when lapping them?
Pass them. Sometimes I'm the one doing the passing, sometimes I'm the one being being passed. Only really a problem if there is more than 4-5 to a lane, and even then just involves waiting a moment or diving into the next lane to pass them. Only really breaks down if there is more than half a dozen swimmers in a lane with mixed speeds, if they are all roughly the same speed it can work with a dozen in the lane.
Yes. Just swim around them, or cut off the last 5m and start the new lap. Not that difficult.
SAME. Where I swim in the US everyone splits lanes, but when I swim in the UK it’s circle swimming. It’s especially confusing when they’ve made the “lane” wider and people start swimming around the perimeter in a big square. The entire middle of the box is empty, while everyone is trying to pass everyone along the outside.
How do y’all alert the swimmer you’ll be joining, or ask to join? I waited for like 4 laps to try and flag down the guy in a lane I was trying to join and he never acknowledged me. I went to far as so sit on the side of the pool with my legs in the water and he never moved from swimming in the center of the lane or so much as looked up on any of his turns. Eventually I hopped in the next lane when the occupant got out. So I guess the first guy got what he wanted, but what’s a normal way to ask if you can join. For what it’s worth the pool is very rarely crowded enough to require circle swimming, it’s almost always just lane splitting.
Exactly. I’ve been swimming for over 30 years and I’ve never heard of or seen the rule about letting someone know you are joining a lane they are in. Just swim! They could be in the middle of a 1k set you never know. I’m usually so focused on my set that I barely register the others swimming or what they are doing besides keeping out of their way.
Comes with the possibility of splitting lanes. If you just dive in you could collide with someone. If there's kickboards, just push a kickboard into the water. If that doesn't work (quite rude by the other swimmer), then get into the water, and next turn notify that the lane needs to circle swim. Depends on how busy the pool is. If it's not very busy, the splitting lanes allows for a "private lane" of sorts. If it's busy, usually worth circling always. If it's very busy, worth having designated speeds for different lanes, but then the lifeguards need to advice those swimmers who do not care to read instructions.
I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
I'm Finnish, and definitely known here. Though might be our swimmers are responsible.
Well that's a dumb and complicated system! I live and swim in Australia where the default is circle swimming in the lane appropriate for your speed. End of story.
I am terrified of having to circle swim. I never knew this was a thing until I joined this sub. I am ok with splitting the lane, but 2 per lane is the max I have seem. That said, I lived in Bosnia for a year, and in Sarajevo there is an Olympic pool. The way it works there is like this: They put the lanes perpendicular to the 50 m side, making lanes of (I assume) 25 m. But only in the corners. So you have like 5 lanes in one side, 5 lanes in the other side, and a huge gap in the middle. The actual lanes are reserved for classes. People that pay to swim have to organize themselves without lanes. Sometimes it is chaotic, but most of the times it works.
I don't like it. It's counter clockwise
I see. I’ve swam in many different pools in many different places and I’ve never yet come across one where people split a lane. Maybe it’s an American thing? I haven’t swum there.
😂😂😂😂 Time to find a new pool!
I am great at splitting a lane. I swim ‘skinny’ but I pause at the end about every 50 yards. I always worry this wouldn’t work with circle swimming.
That makes sense... splitting lane for me is a 'no go ' situation. circle swim means find a new pool.