Abstract: A swimming pool cover assembly is adapted to be operated by hand by a single person, for extending a cover sheet over a swimming pool or for retracting the cover. The cover sheet is wound upon a drum at one end of the pool, while a rope is wound upon a spool located at one end of the drum. A hand crank or electric motor is used either to drivingly rotate the spool to take up the rope, or to drivingly rotate the drum to take up the cover. The rope is positioned in a tensioned loop configuration with its remote end being connected to the forward end of the cover sheet, and is supported on pulleys removably secured to the pool decking. The hand crank or motor drives either the spool or the drum through a gear mechanism, being automatically switched from one to the other depending upon the direction of rotation of the hand crank. Side fasteners secured along the side edges and free end of the cover sheet are removably attached to anchors on the pool decking when the cover is in its extended position.