Call for speculation: Why did she do that?

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

This week my sisters and I were visiting our mom and stepdad at a private campground where they’re working (they have a 5th-wheel trailer and travel the country, working at one place for a season, then moving on to another place - much fun for them).

Anyway, this campground has an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, and my 9-year-old niece wanted to go swimming. So we all met at the building that houses the pool and an exercise room. Upon arriving at the pool it was discovered that my niece had forgotten her swimsuit back at our cabin, so one sister drove her back to the cabin while the rest of us waited and chatted in the exercise room.

After a few minutes I wandered back outside to see if sister and niece had returned. At the same time I came out the front door, an attractive young woman (maybe late teens or early 20s) came out of the women’s locker room wearing a very skimpy bikini. Naturally, being a single, heterosexual man, I did a double-take and took a moment to admire the view, but I didn’t ogle overlong (and mind you, I didn’t know she was there either, until she came out of the locker room, so I had no ulterior motive for wandering outside).

In any case, her back was turned and I don’t think she even knew I was there, which makes her subsequent actions even more puzzling to me. She had something in her hands which I assumed was her towel, until she leaped into the outdoor portion of the pool with her hands still full.

Once she was in the water I saw what she was holding: a black T-shirt and a pair of black shorts … which she proceeded to put on over her swimsuit while still in the water. Then she swam back into the indoors portion of the pool, joining her boyfriend and another, younger girl (this group had been in the pool the previous evening while my niece was swimming, and I’d heard the younger girl refer to the young man as the older girl’s boyfriend).

Anyway, I found the girl’s actions very strange because:

— She and her companions were the first to arrive at the pool (it was morning), and my group arrived while they were still in the locker rooms, so they didn’t know we were there until they came out.

— Since, as far as she knew, there was nobody there to see her other than her boyfriend and the younger girl, she couldn’t have been walking out in her bikini to “show off” or “be seen” before getting into the water. With no audience, it would be pointless (the boyfriend and other girl were in the indoor portion of the pool, but the older girl came directly out of the locker room to the outdoor portion of the pool, so her boyfriend didn’t even provide an “audience”).

— I was behind her from the time she came out of the locker room (she actually came out just ahead of my exit through the front door), so she never saw me until she was actually in the water. I doubt she was covering up for my “benefit”; in any case she had the T-shirt and shorts in hand when she jumped into the water and immediately put them on, so it looked like that was her plan all along.

I know from personal experience that it’s much more difficult to put on wet clothes than dry clothes; I imagine it’s even more difficult to do in the water. So if she intended from the beginning to swim in T-shirt and shorts, why not simply wear them over her swimsuit to begin with, before getting in the water? Is there some secret girl-logic I’m missing here?

This is going to bug me unless somebody can come up with a plausible explanation.

Ladies?

#2

I am a lady and I have absolutely no idea. It just seems weird. I think my sig is appropriate here.

#3

It’s weird to me, too (girl here).

It sounds to me not so much a strange female thing, but more a strange person quirk/compulsion/what have you.

#4

WAG: They (or she at least) were planning to do some skinny-dipping and she had the cover-ups just in case they turned out not to be alone. There you were, so she covered up.

#5

I doubt that - it was 10:00 AM, and the pool is monitored by security cameras (you walk past one of the monitors when you first enter the building, so it’s obvious).

#6

But if she had the cover ups, why put them on in the pool? in fact, why put them on at all since she already had the bikini on?

#7

What part of “WAG” opened me up to so much reality-based scrutiny, y’all?

:smiley:

#8

Growing up with a pool, I’ve an idea. Have you ever put on wet clothes like shorts when you are dry? It’s a cold and icky feeling.

She wanted to wear the shorts and tee shirt but they were damp from the night before. She jumped in and now everything was wet and the same temperature.

Or she’s a nut job.

#9

My only guess is that, regardless of whatever weird reason she had for wearing those outer garments, she thought that they’d be ripped off of her by the force of jumping into the pool with them on, so she just waited until she was in to put them on.

#10

Maybe she decided to train herself to quickly put on wet clothes in the pool. That’s the sort of thing that I would decide to do arbitrarily because it would be a challenge. And do in a section of the pool away from my friends who would mock its pointlessness.

#11

No idea. No idea at all. I’ve never seen anyone put clothes on over a swimsuit while in the water.

I do vaguely remember as a kid taking swimming lessons that a girl who was older than me had to take a test where she wore all her clothes (including shoes) in the water. I never took a test like that, so I’m not sure what it was for. Perhaps the girl was practicing for some sort of swimming test. Or testing herself, like foolsguinea suggested. Heck, I’m strange like that…maybe I’ll try it. OK, maybe not.

Other than that, I’ve got nothing.

#12

I’ve done some more thinking on this, and I believe I’ve come up with a plausible explanation.

Consider the following:

a) There was no parental supervision present for this group of youths.

b) There was a security camera pointed at the indoor section of the pool (but there was no camera on the outdoor portion, for some reason), and the feed from this camera was available for viewing by any camper whose television was hooked into the campground’s satellite TV system*

c) This group was doing all of its swimming in the indoor portion of the pool, in view of the security camera.

d) The exit from the ladies’ locker room opened directly into the room housing the indoor section of the pool, and was also right next to the door leading to the outdoor section of the pool.

This all suggests to me that the young lady had been instructed by her parent(s) to not swim in her skimpy bikini with the young man/boyfriend, and warned that they (the parent(s)) would be watching via the security camera. (This of course presumes that the girl was of high school age, not college age.)

By initially coming out of the locker room in just her bikini, she allowed the boyfriend a glimpse, however brief, of herself in just her bikini. She then proceeded out of the building, jumped into the water, and donned the T-shirt and shorts before swimming back into the building and into range of the security camera.

In other words, she was adhering to the letter of her parent’s instructions, if not the spirit. By waiting until she was in the water to put on her coverups, she extended the length of time that she was visible to the boyfriend in just her bikini. But since boyfriend and younger sister were already in the pool and on camera, she couldn’t stay out of sight of the camera for too long without arousing suspicion, so she had to quickly dress and swim back inside where the camera was. Of course, the boyfriend couldn’t swim outside to gaze upon her, as both of them disappearing from the camera’s view would likely bring a parent to investigate.

Other than that, I’m out of ideas.

  • This campground is a private, gated facility, primarily for the use of RVers who own the individual lots where they park their RVs. So many of the “campers” stay for several months. It’s not a “roughing it” campground :smiley:
#13

This rings most true to me.

This ranks second so far.

#14

I did this a lot as a kid, and it makes tons of sense to me. Putting on wet clothes is not only difficult, but really icky-feeling. But, if you are trying to avoid a sunburn, sometimes ya gotta do it. So, you put them on in the water. It actually IS easier!