The following is a layman’s guide to recognizing Norfolk Punts; it is not for the purist but for those who wish for a basic appreciation for the class.

The Norfolk Punt was derived from the flat-bottomed gun punts that roamed the Broadland waters in the mid to late 1800s.  However, at the turn of the 20th Century, in order to get to and from the hunting grounds more efficiently, the punters developed their highly unstable craft to carry a basic mast and sail for travelling with the wind.  It is from these humble beginnings that one of the country’s most exciting and powerful racing dinghy classes was born.

The Classic or Traditional Punts (PY 926 – 1059)

The older Punts are still very much in existence today and race in the same fleets as the newer boats.  However, due to their rather more antiquated hull designs they compete on a handicap to allow fair racing.  Boats designed and built as early as the late 1920s are still regularly seen on the water, with arguably the most successful Punt ever, winning four National Championships in the late 80s and just outside of the top 3 as recently as 2003, dating back to 1935.

Amongst the early designers were such famous sailors as Uffa Fox and Jack Holt, although most successful boats were from the drawing boards of local designers, the most prolific being Herbert Woods, Walter Woods, H.T. Percival and W. F.  Mollett.  Early boats were generally of clinker construction and varied from 16’ to 22’, although once in the 1930s pretty much all the designs were 22’.  Initially gaff rigs were the norm, but as the class entered the 1930s Punt owners adopted Bermudan rigs.

Today many of the early Punts have been lovingly and painstakingly renovated or rebuilt, transformed into varnished works of art.  Some have been brought into the 21st Century, sporting carbon spars, trapezes and composite sails atop their beautiful, near-century old clinker hulls.  Whatever the owners’ personal choices, these older boats are well loved and still very fast, offering 29er-type speed in a gentleman’s elegant package.