You cant beat a swimmer for feel for the water! Swimmers get a much more close-up feel from the way water flows because their bodies have to move through it. In rowing we have to move the boat through the water so this this is an additional layer of separation. So what can we learn from swimmers? We look at the way they place their hand (our spoon in our placement), the way the reach in (our patient connection), the way they execute their arm pull (our drive), the way they take their hand out (our extraction), the way they move their arm to prepare for the next stroke (our recovery). We consider their push off the wall to illustrate progressive loading, and the way they let their bodies glide after the dive to illustrate our run. These are all thoughts that we should keep in our mind that will make us more efficient. As can be most clearly seen with swimmers, finesse and technique can be a huge difference in how much speed you get out of the work you put in.