Nice touch the boat would be going in circles.
With the rowers bumping in to each other with each stroke
No and no. Every oar handle goes forward and back at the same time and the boat goes forward. That just means that the rowers facing backwards are doing the movements in the opposite phase compared to the rowers facing forwards, pulling when the others are pushing and so on.
The only issue I see, is that the oar on the left has nobody holding it. And ofc the side of the boat is missing.
That would only work if half the workers are pushing instead of pulling. If you’ve ever tried rowing, you know that doesn’t work, at least not with any efficiency