"Scottish" Lanes?

[Talvi]

Originally Posted by Rhoda

There are numerous ways to do them. It's been a while since I've done the kind I was taught, but if memory serves, this is how to turn left to go counter-clockwise around a buoy in an open water event.

1. As the left arm enters the water and pushes forward, use it as an axis to pivot around until you're on your back.
2. As you recover your right arm, roll your body back over onto the front as the right arm enters the water again.
3. Swim a few strokes until you're nearly past the buoy (or in this case, around the bottom of the passing lane)
4. Repeat to turn 90º again to head up the other side

To turn clockwise, just reverse the arms and start with your right arm as the pivot.
I don't know if this explanation makes any sense, I'll have to practice this turn next time I'm swimming and see if I can describe it any more clearly.

This sounds like FUN !! But :( I can't understand where the turning comes in. What's the difference with the corkscrew stroke? Please do come back if you can explain more :)

[Talvi]

Originally Posted by CoachBobM

I've never seen what you call "Scottish" lanes. The usual protocol here is that people swim counterclockwise (sort of like a typical U.S. road where motorists stay on the right side of the road, from their point of view).

It's also common, if there are only 2 swimmers in a lane, for each swimmer to stay on one side of the lane (effectively dividing the lane into 2 half-lanes, with each swimmer staying in their own half lane), so that if the swimmers are swimming at different speeds, they don't get in each other's way. At some facilities, this dual protocol is actually posted, but at others, the 2 swimmers just agree to it between them.

The weirdest thing I ever saw was a pool with extremely narrow lanes where it was impossible for 2 swimmers to pass each other in a single lane. So they only allowed 1 swimmer per lane. If all of the lanes were full, you had to write your name on a white board waiting list, and when there was a waiting list, swimmers were restricted as to how long they could stay in a lane before they had to get out and let another swimmer in (putting their own name at the bottom of the waiting list if they wanted to swim longer).


Bob

Yes that's what we do here in Finland and what seems universal (almost).

The wait for another turn in that super narrow lane pool sounds like it could be a good discipline. I think forcing myself to have say 3 x 30min sessions rather than 1 x 90min one could be better for technique improvement. It remonds me of queuing for a game of pool, but waiting and hour or so at the bar is more appealing than waiting at the poolside! :D

As for the "Scottish Lane Swimming" (maybe it's just in the islands), it generates chaos at the ends if more than four people are swimming in a two lane space. Increasing the space to three lanes has little or no impact as the problems come from trying to swim off the wall at 45' or from not being able to swim more than one length at a time.

[Rhoda]

Originally Posted by Talvi

This sounds like FUN !! But :( I can't understand where the turning comes in. What's the difference with the corkscrew stroke? Please do come back if you can explain more :)

Try it out and you'll see how it works. As you rotate back onto your front, you'll do a 90 degree turn in the water.
THere are other ways to swim around a buoy if this one seems too complicated, just google them and you'll see how to to the "Scottish" lane turn around.

[Talvi]

True, I could try to invent something Rhoda, but as you made the suggestion, and as that matches a corkscrew stroke i.e no turn, just rotation around the body's axis, I thought I'd ask you, especially as you said you were going to see if you could describe it better.

Your suggestion about googling - well yes, I have heard about people asking that google chappie but I don't have his email address ;) Of course another alternative would have been to just ignore your post :D

Re the Scottish pools swimmers though, they either:
1. swam very slow breaststroke and swam the 5 metres across the ends in a gentle curve or
2. came off at 45' or more acutely or
3. walked/shuffled across the end of the pool before starting another lap

Didn't see anything else really over 40+hrs in the water there. Those of us who wanted to swim laps generally found ways of negotiating with other swimmers etc to do so. One swimmer I met there used to swim in the "lane" next to the lane rope ... on the recreational side of the pool! :D

Very few people swam in the bundled lanes, and even fewer swam more than a few hundred metres. The club swimmers of course swam normally in their lane swimming sessions.

[Rhoda]

This morning I got a chance to refresh my memory, as I had an outdoor pool literally all to myself. It's not exactly a 90º turn, more like 120º, but you do turn a corner using this method. I swam rectangles around this pool and practiced both directions, so it does work. The main thing is to rotate back onto your front at the same time that you're spearing the recovering arm into the water.
In any case, there are many other ways to swim corners around the base of a rectangle, if you find yourself with this lane swimming arrangement again.
Just Google "open water buoy turns" for numerous suggestions.
e.t.a.: here's a description of the turn that I was describing, it's called a corkscrew turn:
http://www.feelforthewater.com/2012/...ater-turn.html