Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Norfolk punt
The Norfolk Punt is a high-performance sailing dinghy designed for sailing on the Norfolk Broads.
Punts are pointed at bow and stern, are up to 22 feet long, and have no lower limit on hull weights. Sail area upwind is restricted to 22msq, whilst downwind is unlimited.
.
Norfolk punts are derived from the flat-bottomed gun punts that roamed the Broadland waters in the mid-to-late 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, in order to get to and from the hunting grounds more quickly, the punters developed their highly unstable craft to carry a basic mast and sail for travelling with the wind. Races were held between these dinghies and the Norfolk Punt Club was established in 1926.
Many older Punts are still in existence today and race in the same fleets as the newer boats, on a handicap basis. Boats designed and built as early as 1918 are still regularly seen on the water.
Amongst the early designers were famous sailors such 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 ft (4.9 to 6.7 m), although once in the 1930s most designs were 22 ft (6.7 m). Initially gaff rigs were the norm, but as the class entered the 1930s Punt owners adopted Bermuda rigs.
Today many of the early Punts have been renovated or rebuilt. Some have been updated with carbon spars, trapezes and composite sails atop their varnished, century-old clinker hulls.
In the eight years immediately after World War II only one boat was built, and it became apparent that the post-World War II economy meant that a new breed of boat needed to be designed, if the class was not to disappear into ignominy.
Hub AI
Norfolk punt AI simulator
(@Norfolk punt_simulator)
Norfolk punt
The Norfolk Punt is a high-performance sailing dinghy designed for sailing on the Norfolk Broads.
Punts are pointed at bow and stern, are up to 22 feet long, and have no lower limit on hull weights. Sail area upwind is restricted to 22msq, whilst downwind is unlimited.
.
Norfolk punts are derived from the flat-bottomed gun punts that roamed the Broadland waters in the mid-to-late 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, in order to get to and from the hunting grounds more quickly, the punters developed their highly unstable craft to carry a basic mast and sail for travelling with the wind. Races were held between these dinghies and the Norfolk Punt Club was established in 1926.
Many older Punts are still in existence today and race in the same fleets as the newer boats, on a handicap basis. Boats designed and built as early as 1918 are still regularly seen on the water.
Amongst the early designers were famous sailors such 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 ft (4.9 to 6.7 m), although once in the 1930s most designs were 22 ft (6.7 m). Initially gaff rigs were the norm, but as the class entered the 1930s Punt owners adopted Bermuda rigs.
Today many of the early Punts have been renovated or rebuilt. Some have been updated with carbon spars, trapezes and composite sails atop their varnished, century-old clinker hulls.
In the eight years immediately after World War II only one boat was built, and it became apparent that the post-World War II economy meant that a new breed of boat needed to be designed, if the class was not to disappear into ignominy.