Who swims over people? (Page 2)

I went over someone's legs in a HIM earlier this year.  I got jammed up with someone slow in front and on both sides and the only way out was over or under somebody, or else push someone out of the way.  Didn't seem like a big deal, I crossed over the guy's lower legs and got around the crowd.  I'm guessing he barely noticed.  What was my thought process?   Really not much of one at all.

yep, funny how they find their way to front of a 5 or 10K as well and turn around and go out a 7+ minute mile!

I consider it a definite no-no. I pass a lot of people in heats in front of me and have no problem swimming through a pack or around it (which ever looks fastest of course). The one exception was at the SF tri last year. I cam up on another guy who was going so slow and creating little evidence of life, that I never saw him and swam right over him. I felt terrible. As a strong swimmer I consider it my duty to avoid contact on much slower swimmers.

However at the start I find that many swimmers (even me on a rare occasion) take a bad sighting the first 100 yards and cross over swimmers. If I think someone is off line I swim close and see if they will move. If they don't I either surge ahead or drop behind. If I drop back I may cross over their legs to get the right line.

I've never actually swum over the top of someone. Run into people or came up on their legs (if their legs are dragging), but usually have enough wherewithal to kind of know where I am in relation to the other swimmers around me.

I have, on the other hand, had other people swim directly over the top of me. I can't understand this at all. Usually it's a guy from a wave behind me. I know I'm slower than most of them. No need to rub it in. I'm not doing it on purpose. If I have my wits about me, I grab a foot and give a good hard yank to let them know I didn't appreciate it. My goal, though, is to actually grab tri shorts and yank them off. That'll teach 'em.

Once in a pool swim, I under estimated my time and ended up behind some slower people. They, unfortunately, weren't willing to pause at the wall to let me pass, so when we all came to a turn that went under the lane line to the next lane (snake swim) at the same time, I did an open turn, pushed really hard off the wall, and swam under about 3 people. That was fun.

That doesn't surprise me. Some folks feel that they have to be aggressive just to show that they can't be pushed around. They have it in their mind that they are not going to let anyone push them around. Others are much more relaxed in open water. They just swim and not let contact detract from their focus.

I am a FOP swimmer and many times I find myself in a small group. We are all racing each other and trying to find the best line to take. Rather than fight each other I find that we naturally get close, back off and get close again. It shows a respect for the other swimmers and an understanding that we are all very competent swimmers and trying to find the best line.

Compare this to an experience in a 5K I had last summer. Due to a residual injury I could not accelerate with the early breakaway. Instead I settled in and gobbled people up. I came up on this one woman. It was in the final 1/3 of the race so clearly she was a very good swimmer. I touched her feet a couple of times and then began to swim up along side her, taking advantage of her wake. I never touched her. As I pulled past her she reached over and ran her nails down my back and tried to pull my swim suit off. I stopped and gave her a bit of in your face advice. Why didn't I kick her? I'm not sure. Part is that I don't beleive in retaliation (in general). It just detracts from my concentration. The second, and I hate to admit it, was because she was a "girl".

It was obvious that she was an excellent pool swimmer but had her limits in open water. I suspect all her OW experience was with friends and not in tightly contested races. It was clear she had an attitude problem when I heard her brag how she really got a guy with her nails - read: I'm as macho as any guy". At that point I wished that I'd kicked her. The next "girl" might not be so lucky. (Calm down. . . . take a deep breathe).