Rowing Technique: The Finish

The finish of the stroke is the final movement in rowing that gives a boat speed, after this part of the stroke, the oars come off the water and the boat attempts to run, keeping as much energy as possible before the next stroke. Removing the oars together with the other rowers of the shell and keeping fast hands at the finish is important in order to keep the boat set, and with the adaptation of a simple drill, your sweep racing boat can be even faster by improving its finishing technique.

Every rower who has spent any amount of time under a coach has learned to dread the "chunk drill", making all the rowing blades bury themselves in the water at once, making that sound that tells the other crews that your boat is a force to be reckoned with. Clean, fast catches is what the boats focus on, yet my latest eight man shell has been practicing another sound as well. At the end of the stroke, layback achieved and the oar back as far as it will reach, we have been pushing the oar down hard enough, while giving it the feathering turn, to make another "chunk" sound against the oarlock. Seems useless, after all, the stroke is done at that point, and you aren't going to miss water as if it were the catch, so why the effort?

A strong finish, as the crew has come to call it, reinforces the in-together out-together motion of the oars that keeps forces on the shell even, keeping the set of the boat better than ever. And as every club boater knows, set is run, and run is speed. But perhaps more important than the slight increase in the otherwise good set is the progress made towards the holy-grail of rowing, the feeling of swing, with all the oars moving as one and all the bodies going up on the recovery as one. The addition of a hard finish with a strong sound gives a second point for the rowers to gain feedback on swing, in addition to the usual sound at the catch. This second set of feedback helps the rowers to match their drives and also to match the recovery rate, as the oars are now entering and exiting the water together. Get your boat to give that extra effort, and maybe it will find swing a little more with a strong, hard finish.