Further exploration has yielded the more modern synchronous-stagger stroke where the rowers movements mimic those of the common centipede, however everybody agrees that it's just really too creepy.
not really balderdash
this is the stuff that inventions are created from.
i have a model row boat that has over 15 years done some 100 km of rowing .
it was the sucessfull elipical movement of this mechanics that i have adapted to a multi oared boat
the boat is more finished now(no pics yet) with a grinning man on a throne on front deck with 2 levers that appear to controll the sweating men under the decks.
the whip man in the rear boosts the efforts of the 8 men
so it could be described as a
super charged V8 powered personal launch from 3000 years ago 
at 71 years old and bored to tears i get into my workshop and just invent.
not wealthy enough to make electric cars now so just have to invent crazy things
here is a link to some of my other inventions like a prancing mechanical cat and a walking dirty sock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvyHoWq4V4o&mode=user&search=alecwolf the wood is cedar and i laminated several boards and then cut them into vineers.
(im a cello maker now) the cedar body shell was fibreglassed inside and out so it is ultra modern
