simbrooks:I think i see what you are saying, i was looking at a long, wide stroke, which would give power,...
It wouldn't necessarily give you power---that would depend on how much force you put into the kick. Sometimes, from a wide spread, it will take me 4 to 5 seconds to reach the closed position. At times I will execute the kick in less than a second. The latter will give the longest glide but the first one requires the least physical effort.
If you need to go fast, you need to use a narrower kick(stay within slipstream to reduce drag), increase the tempo or beat of the kick and execute each kick in less than a second. Now you are doing 60 kicks per minute instead of 5 or 6 kicks per minute. The downside---as speed doubles, drag quadruples and energy expenditure goes way up.
Overall the idea is to adapt the kick to the needs you have at the time during the dive.