A swimmer's mile
 

I had always thought that swimming a mile meant swimming 36 laps or 72 lengths in a 25 yard pool which is 1,760 yards. However, on the bottom of the summer pool schedule at my Y, a "swimmer's mile" was listed as 66 lengths which amounts to 1600 yards. What is the reason for the disparity and which does one adhere to when swimming a mile?

D67

Meters?
 

It may be 25 meters!?

1760/1600 =1.1
39.37 inches in a meter
39.37/36 = 1.093613
meter
close!
1760/1.093613 = 1609 meters
1600* 39.37/36 = 1749 yards

close!

Sounds like the pool is a non conforming length. Probably built to be 25 yards but they dug too much or mis-measured or, more likely it is just wrong information that has become truth. The only way to be sure is to measure it. I swam in a pool once that claimed 34 laps was a mile. We brought in a 100 foot tape measure and proved it was a perfect 75 feet and ruined everyone's day.

STS

The "metric mile" is 1500m, which is 60 lengths of a 25m pool or 30 lengths of a 50m Olympic pool. For training purposes it seems best to swim to the 1500m mark.
Most sports pools are built either in 25m or 50m lengths, though Maidstone Leisure Centre pool was built with a 33m length. After a few years Maidstone put in a barrier at the shallow end making the pool 25m and creating a narrow, shallow pool.
I have always been confused by the American concept of swimming laps, is a lap 2 lengths?

Yes, a lap is 2 lengths.

D67

Metric v Feet
 

In the USA, many pools, especially older ones, are 75 feet (25 yards) or 150 feet (50 yards). 36 laps is the "accepted" amount of laps for a mile in a 75 foot pool. The actual required distance is 35.2 laps. A 25 meter pool is 82.02 feet. It requires 32.2 laps. The "accepted" distance is 32.

Hope this helps.

STS

I know that the pool is 75 feet or 25 yards and that it is not meters. What I'm thinking is that someone made an error in the number of lengths for a pool of 25 meters rather than yards. Still off a bit, but that's probably what happened.

Thanks everyone for you replies.
D67

A 1,500 meter swim is often called a 'mile' swim. Here in the US, most pools are 25 yards, and college swim meets feature a 1,650 yard race which is often also called 'the mile'. I think since since a meter is about 10% longer than a yard, someone just took 1500 meters and added 10% to get 1,650 yards. So I've seen the 1650 called a 'mile swim', but never a 1600.

1650 or 66 laps in a yard pool is what they call a mile. or 1500meters in a 50 yard pool is a mile. or in the usa its like this. i use to swim competitively and never asked why but maybe it is having to do with the metric mile. will have to do some research on this