The finish, or extraction is the process of taking the oar out of the water. This is simply done by tapping the hands down in a vertical motion (in rowing only the outside hand should apply this pressure). When out of the water the athlete can then feather the blade, reducing air resistance, whilst quickly moving the hands away from the body.
A clean finish occurs when the blade is not feathered until out of the water and the blade was not too deep before extraction. The force applied during the drive should leave an air pocket behind the spoon of the blade in the water, this causes the puddle you see and allows for the blade to be extracted easier, without dragging any water upwards. The size of the puddle indicates how powerfull the stroke was, and having less bubbles shows a cleaner extraction.
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