One of the older guys in our Masters class was a fairly decent swimmer, but probably had poor vision. It was horrible when he came late and got in our lanes. He could keep up for the most part, sometimes he was even pretty fast (but he required a lot of rest) however when we did faster sets, you never knew when he'd come careening at you dead straight down the middle of the lane. A few times I was in the process of breathing and upon turning my head back to center realized we were almost going to collide. Most of these times were right after he pushed off from the wall, so it's not like he didn't see me. Several times I left swim class early because I am not going to injure myself in a pool.

I don't know if he ever realized what he was doing, or tried to correct it, but I know myself and several other women whose lanes he tended to share would drop hints. It's hard to come out and say something critical to someone who is your elder, but what can you do?

Another time, there was a woman who clearly did not belong in our Masters class, as she could barely swim. She usually stayed in one of the beginner lanes, but a few times she got there late too and had to come in our lanes, she was so dangerous, she couldn't swim in a straight line at all. I at least felt a bit bad for her, she was just trying to learn to swim, but I wanted to tell her that maybe she should be taking lessons instead of jumping into Masters swim... never got a chance to as she stopped coming after a few classes.