lap swimming etiquette question

[WalkingLiberty1919D]

Two of the lanes at my pool are wider than the others, so I tend to ask swimmers there if I can squeeze in by gesturing like you do. I never knew about speeds, but I tend to swim faster than everyone else who is at the pool when I am there (I swim at a time of day when there are a lot of seniors and they swim slowly... even with fins on). I also found a time that it's not too crowded so I usually end up with a lane alone anyway. The slow time is probably why the seniors are there too.

On the flip side, I always offer to share my lane.* I stay aware of what is going on around me and if I see some poor swimmer standing there looking like they are trying to find a lane, I wave them over. My thought is, if I share with them, maybe in the future they will share with me if I need to to squeeze in. I just stick to one side of the lane and they stick to the other and everyone is happy. Some people refuse and say they will just wait for an empty lane. That's fine too, some people don't like to share lanes. I really don't enjoy it, but I tolerate it.




*There is one person I always ignore and won't offer to share with anymore. We shared a lane once and he was very grumpy and also one of those slow back swimmers who flails out his arms--but underwater... like someone who is just floating but he propels himself with his arms now and then (no kicking). It's not any kind of stroke I ever learned in swim lessons. He almost hit me swimming like that... but didn't. We just came close. I didn't care, but he seemed to feel the need to berate me about it even though I was right on the rope and couldn't move over any more. I don't share with him anymore. Who knew there was lap lane rage, haha.