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The rowing stroke can be divided into two parts, the drive and the recovery. The drive is the part of the stroke when the blade is in the water.

The drive begins at the catch, which is when the blade is placed in the water.

The blade is then driven through the water by pushing first with the legs and then continuing the stroke by leaning back with the body and pulling through with the arms.

This brings us to to the end of the drive stage, commonly known as the finish, which is when the blade is tapped out of the water by pushing down on the handle of the oar.

There are a few common mistakes during the drive. First at the start of the drive, that the seat can begin to move back faster than the shoulders. This is known as 'bum shoving' and it causes the powerful leg drive to be weakened considerably. It is a common misconception that rowing is pulling with the arms, this can cause rowers to pull over their knees into an arc causing the blades to plunge too deep. Towards the end of the drive the blade handle is commonly pulled down (instead of along) which causes the blade to lift from the water before the end of the stroke. This is called 'washing out'.

The recovery is when the blade is out of the water. The recovery allows a rower to recover from the exertion of the drive phase. Having tapped the blade out of the water the rower will feather the blade; this is when the blade is turned from being vertical to being horizontal. The rower then moves back towards the catch position by:  The arms move away from the body, which is balanced vertically, but the seat has not yet begun to move and the knees are still held down. The arms, shoulders and neck are relaxed. This posture aids recovery from the exertion of the stroke, and helps to keep the boat balanced in the water. The body then rocks over from the pelvis, with the back straight, and the knees lift, allowing the seat to move.

As the handle of the blade passes over the rower's ankles they will square the blade, which is when they roll the blade back to vertical. The body at this point is in the catch position moving forward until the shins are vertical and the sequence begins again.

Photos courtsey of British Rowing