What Can Be Added to a Pool in Order to Do Laps?

When in open water, a swimmer has nothing to guide him nor does he have anything to limit the waves that make swimming more tiring. Even in an open pool, waves still push swimmers around, expending their energy, and swimmers do not have any guidance as to where walls are or if they are swimming in a straight line. Several key features, including lane lines, lane markings and turn indicators, make it faster, easier and safer to swim laps in a pool.

  1. Lane Lines

    • Lane lines are ropes that run the length of the pool, dividing it into lanes. Official International Swimming Federation (FINA) pools have lanes that are 2.5 meters wide, but unofficial pools can deviate from that measurement. Lanes should be wide enough that swimmers going opposite directions can pass each other without colliding. Lane lines also help dull the waves that are created by swimmers to make it easier to swim laps.

    Lane Markings

    • Because most swimming strokes take place with a swimmer's head pointed at the bottom of the pool, lap pools have lane markers painted along the bottom of the pool. These lines run the length of the pool and are painted in the center of each lane. This helps swimmers to stay in a straight line. About 1 m from the wall, the line will end in a "T" shape to let the swimmers know that the wall is very close. This alerts them so they do not swim headfirst into the wall.

    Backstroke Turn Indicators

    • Backstroke turn indicators are strings of flags that run across the pool. These flags are strung 5 m from the end of the pool to alert backstrokers that the wall is close so they do not crash headfirst into the wall at high speed. The flags need to be hung at least 5 feet above the water's surface so as not to interfere with the swimmers. Proficient swimmers will know the number of strokes they have left until the reach the wall to either finish or do a flip turn.