Punt (boat)

A punt is a flat boat with a broad front. It is designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting means boating in a punt. The punter pushes a pole against the river bed (the bottom of the river) and this gives the punt a way to move.

Punts were originally built as cargo boats or platforms. They were for shooting at birds and fishing. In modern times they are mostly used for pleasure trips on the rivers in the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge in England. There are also races at summer regattas on the Thames. 

 Punt poles 

Poles for pleasure punts are normally made of spruce, or aluminium. A normal pole is about 12–16 feet (4–5 m) long and weighs about 10 lb (5 kg). In Oxford and Cambridge 16 ft long poles are sometimes used.

The bottom of the pole has a metal "shoe", a rounded lump of metal to protect the end. The shoe is sometimes made in the shape of a swallow tail.

 Other websites 
Clubs
 Thames Valley Skiff Club, retrieved November 2018
 Sunbury Regatta, retrieved November 2018
 Wraysbury Skiff and Punting Club , retrieved November 2018
 Dittons Skiff & Punting Club, retrieved November 2018
 The Skiff Club, retrieved November 2018

Punting stations
 Cherwell Boathouse, Oxford, retrieved November 2018
 Scudamore's Punting, Cambridge, retrieved November 2018
 Rutherford's Punting Cambridge, retrieved November 2018
 Punting on the Thames, retrieved November 2018

Further information
 A Thames Library, retrieved November 2018
 A detailed non-commercial guide to punting (and other boating) on the Thames, retrieved November 2018
 The Scudamore's guide to punting in Cambridge, retrieved November 2018
 Daily Info guide to punting in Oxford, retrieved November 2018

Punting around the world
 In Christchurch, New Zealand
 In Tübingen, Germany
 In the Spreewald in Germany
 On the Mutha River, India
 On the Marais Poitevin, France 
 In Botswana

Category:Boats