Mitch4 sends this in: “The two rowers were seated as though to propel the boat astern, left-to-right. The magically-appearing outboard then correctly sends the boat right-to-left.”
Jack Applin adds: “Margot, the millennial with the afro puffs, has near-supernatural abilities at times, so we can assume that she unconsciously created the outboard motor. However, why are the characters rowing backward? When you row, you pull on the oars, which sends the boat in the opposite direction that you’re facing. The bow (front) of this boat is on the left, as indicated by its shape (also, the motor appears at the right). The rowers should be facing right, not left. Perhaps this explains why they’re doing so poorly—they’re either pushing the oars, or trying to make the boat go backwards, flat end first.”
Actually, in panel 2 it’s not clear what’s going on, given the angle of the rower’s back and the oars. Is it possible the cartoonist just doesn’t understand how rowing a boat works?
Comics I Don't Understand 
I thought the thing appearing in the 3rd panel was a picnic cooler. After realizing I was wrong, and reading the comments, all I can say is “Makes Hulk’s HEAD hurt.”
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“Is it possible the cartoonist just doesn’t understand how rowing a boat works?”
Of course that’s possible. There are millions, maybe billions, of people out there who don’t understand how rowing a boat works.
I didn’t even give it a second thought, for instance. What’s wrong with pushing the oars anyway?
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I think the point (if there is one) is that the kids don’t know how to row a boat.
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how are the characters changing places? plus, I had to zoom in to figure out what was going on in panel one. I agree that the characters don’t know how to row a boat, and are trying to use the oars more like canoe paddles. Hard to know if the artist knew that, or not.
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The motor magically appearing… and potentially sending them the wrong/un-intended direction…. reminds me a little bit about the account of Jesus calming the storm after the Disciples wake him up:
Mark: Then the wind died down and it was completely calm
Matthew: and it was completely calm
Luke: the storm subsided, and all was calm
Grumpy, sleep-deprived Jesus played a sort of practical joke on them: They were in a sailing boat. Not a one of them was going to to try to wake Him up again to ask for maybe a little breeze. They had to row to shore.
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There’s a piece by Mendelssohn entitled “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” which is based on not one but two poems by Goethe. The first is “Calm Sea”. The second is “Prosperous Voyage.”
As El Cucui points out, the two are totally opposite situations for a sailing ship. If the sea is calm, your ship is just going to be sitting there for a long long time. If you’re a merchant who bought a lot of inventory and brought it on board, you’re counting the days until you can get home and sell it. Every calm day is another day wasted.
But if the wind ever picks up, you can sail home and sell your stuff and count it a prosperous voyage.
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chemgal: If they can make an outboard motor appear like that, then changing places should be a snap.
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