Ugly stroke=dang fast?!

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a recent TI convert. I'm not a whole lot faster than I was (3-5 secs per 100), but I take a lot less energy to get down the pool than I used to and have been told randomly by a swim coach that I have a "beautiful stroke". I like to think I'd make Terry proud.

So I'm swimming 100 repeats pretty hard this morning, when this guy in the next lane zooms past me. I didn't pay much attention except to think "Damn, he's fast!" Then while I'm resting between repeats, I see him swimming and it's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Most notably, his hands slapped audibly on each entry. Sometimes, they'd hit just right and it would sound like he was clapping loudly. He had decent rotation, but pulled his entire back out of the water just before each stroke. His arms were more or less straight the entire time out of the water. It looked awkard and painful, but he was fast. I was pretty much done with my workout so I timed him, and sure enough, on 300 repeats, the guy is cranking out 1:15 to 1:20 per 100 METERS!!! He's smoking every one else in the pool. Even the guy I'd previously thought to be 'the fast guy'. I caught the old 'fast guy' staring at him swimming, too, so I remarked to him about it. He just stood there flabbergasted, saying "yeah, but he's fast....."

So what the heck?! What do you guys think? Is it really only about what you're doing under the water? Or is he just a mighty exception to a fairly solid rule? If it is only about what you're doing under the water, why does almost every swim coach focus so much on high elbows, smooth entry, etc? If what you're doing above the water counts, how fast would this guy be if he didn't look like such crap in the water?!?!?! My mind is just blown by this guy....