Rowing motion is similar to the drive system of a vehicle in that the more you accelerate, the faster you go. Some types of rowing require consistent hand speed, while other employ moments of faster hand speed. With few exceptions, the speed of a rowing craft is proportionate to the speed of the rower's hands during the rowing motion.
Rowing Basics
Rowing is a continuous motion that is divided into four parts: reach, pull, rotate and recover. With the oar blades in the water, your arms are extended and reaching out. Pulling the oar grips toward you draws the blades through the water. At the midpoint of the motion, you rotate the oar grips downward, lift the blades out of the water and swing them in arcs toward the front of the boat. You recover by dipping the blades into the water with the oars extended forward to reach again. Hand speed comes into play at the point where you rotate the oars to lift the blades, swing the oars in arcs and dip the blades back in the water.
Racing
Competition races in sweep boats and sculls feature individual competitors or teams. Racers calculate their speed by the number of strokes per minute. At the start, strokes and hand speed are faster to accelerate to race speed. Once the boat has reached top speed, the rate settles into a consistent cadence. An individual's hand speed is most often determined by physical conditioning and technique. Coordinated hand speed is critical to team racing because one member out of sync can upset the cadence that's necessary to maintaining top speed. Rowing teams understand the importance of matching their hand speed and blade work with one another.
Kayaks and Canoes
Typically, people think of propelling kayaks or canoes in terms of paddling, not rowing. But the rowing motion consists of the same four parts, and hand speed determines the speed of the craft. If you want to turn a kayak or canoe, you row on one side of the boat using one paddle. To cover more water with fewer strokes, you reach farther ahead to draw the paddle through a greater amount of water. If you want to avoid a situation, such as going over the falls in a river, you shorten your strokes and increase hand speed to get to calm water or the shore faster. When speed is necessary, you do not dip the paddle as deep as when rowing to cover more water because doing so would slow your hand speed.
Observations
When racing, your hands must rotate the oars and reach as fast as possible before dipping the blades. The fastest rowers have the strength and technique to maintain consistent hand speed throughout the stroke. With recreational rowing, such as surfing a war canoe, hand speed increases as a swell approaches and slows once boat speed has matched the speed of the swell. Dipping the oar blades or paddles deeper in the water is similar to shifting a transmission to low gear: It generates more power but slows your hand speed. You can increase the speed of the boat by dipping the blades or paddles less, which reduces the force of the water and allows you to move your hands faster.
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