Traditional UK inland waters produced some of the fastest, most canvas-heavy dinghies and river craft ever developed. Extreme British yachts like the Norfolk Punt and Thames A-Rater carry enormous sail plans on lightweight hulls, demanding skilled crew work to remain upright in confined river channels.
We have been heavily influenced by the performance of these boats for both inshore and coastal events. Several of our boat designs – notably the Goat Island Skiff, the diminutive Viola Sailing canoe and Oz Goose have all been active in long distance events. They are all proven very effective in terms of performance and capability.
Howdy y’all. This weekend was the Norfolk Broads Three Rivers Race, the longest inland sailing race in Europe, averaging 55 miles and taking in two low bridges that are out and back so four rig lowerings – all within 24 hours
Rules include no single handlers, paddling only within a gate either side of the bridges (when sails lowered) and no mooring/anchoring to avoid the tides.
A good knowledge of the wind (speed/direction) and tides are essential for a good result or to even finish. Mik asked that since were not racing this year that we post some coverage of the event and we have concentrated on the Thames A raters, Norfolk Punts and River Cruiser Class.
If anyone should have any questions, please ask. Of the 120 boat start, a Punt won, A raters were 2nd/3rd and another Punt 4th..
The Videos are short but give an excellent feeling of the race, the boats and the madness and are on Facebook.
A Raters are from the 1800s but have been updated rather a lot!
Towering carbon rigs have to be dropped under the bridges.
Big boats those A-raters: 8.5 meters long, less then 2 meters wide, very low hull weights and over 30 m2 of sail (not counting the spinnaker). Crazy if there is any wind!
Amazing mast length for hull size
And a …
Well … it makes total sense!
Norfolk Punts – 22ft long – two person
Again towering rigs to keep up above the treeline. Originally based on hunting punts.
For a long part of sailing history the question was whether the sailing canoes were the fastest man made vehicles on earth or the sailing canoes were.
The Norfolk Punts also drop their rigs to paddle under the bridges.
Broads Yachts can be chartered, but these are probably too precious!
And performance is enough to get into trouble in such tight spaces!
A Rater Videos of Three River’s Race
Click on each of the images to see the video.
Videos of Norfolk Punts in the Three Rivers Race
Videos of Broads Cruisers sailing in close to other yachts
Our little raiding boats
Learn more about high-performance unstayed and traditional rigs on modern wooden hulls:
