This rowing tip from Boathouse Captain Mike Wilson: 

Over the coming months we are going to try and develop a series aimed at providing thoughts, ideas, visual and physical references, and drills to better your rowing technique.  Some of these will be personal observations, but we will try and also include quotes from books on the subject, and guidance from our more senior members with teaching experience such as Sam Leake, Ginger Twichell, John Mullen, and Dave Hirsch.  I am sure there are going to be differences of opinion in some of the things we will post here, but we will endeavor to keep the tips in a generic format and provide them with the beginner primarily in mind. And should these differences come up, we can always use them as a springboard for further discussions on the matter at hand.

The first in this series is aimed at assisting you in gaining an appreciation of the importance of the legs in the drive. The books are full of descriptions on maladies affecting the rower not properly using their legs: shooting the tail, breaking the arms, throwing the shoulders, etc.

I received the following tip from Dave Hirsch during an early morning row - set the catch with the initiation of the leg drive, not with the arms or shoulders.  As you are recovering (coming out of the bow) the goal to keep in mind is to work your way into the catch position as you’re coming back up the slide. In other words you don’t want to get into the catch position at the very last minute. As you’re coming up the slide, your arms should be extended as you slowly bend forward from the hips (not the waist). Thus by the time you’ve fully compressed your legs into the stern all you have to do is drop the oars and drive with the legs. You can see the effect of doing this improperly by watching the waves coming off of the stern. You want to minimize dipping or checking of the boat by providing a smooth transition of your weight from the bow to the stern.  Too much abrupt fore and aft shifting of your weight checks the boat and slows you down. Watch that wake!

If you’ve managed this successfully all that is required upon reaching full compression of your body is to let the oars drop to the water and begin the push with your legs. Your arms stay extended and your body should by and large remain centered over the seat.  Only as you are reaching the extent of your leg drive should the arms and shoulders be brought to bear to complete the stroke. The back and arms at the early stage of the drive should only be providing the connection between your legs and the oars.

Try this:  from a dead stop slowly work your way into the catch position. The moment the oars hit the water initiate a strong leg drive like you would at the start of a race. Do not continue through to a full finish - just see what you can do with your legs alone. (When doing this exercise, you can simply release at mid-slide.  Drop your hands to pop the blades out of the water and feather them. Either that or just feather them at the end of the leg drive and let them glide on the water’s surface.)  When you are out actually rowing, particularly if you are a beginner, it is perhaps more important to get both oars in the water cleanly, feeling some reisistance on the blades, then accelerating through the stroke.  If you need a little shoulder lean to make a clean catch then so be it.  As you become more comfortable with your oar handling skills, then you can start focusing more on the skill provided above

If your lower body is not connected properly to the oars you will have a less than successful run.  If the boat doesn’t go anywhere you’re likely “shooting the slide.” This is essentially you pushing the seat toward the bow but the oars have hardly moved - your legs weren’t connected to the oars.  You lose a lot of power this way.  If the boat runs askew, or worse yet you’ve “caught a crab” (the oar dives on you and pulls the boat rapidly over to that side - i.e. the blade is at less than the optimum drive angle), then you’re very likely trying to influence the run of the boat by using either your arms or shoulders too early in the drive.

Try the drill several times until you begin to feel the connection your upper body should be providing at the onset of the drive.  A smooth, powerful, and straight run will occur when you start making this connection correctly.

Another good indication that you’re not using your legs to their full potential is your arms, particularly your forearms, are excessively fatigued early on in your row. They’re being used too early in the drive.

Good luck, and let’s row!