GUN PUNTS
stint as helmsman in the 1964 America’s Cup. This was
an event that dented reputations, but at least some joint
enterprises were forged: Scott and Sovereign designer
David Boyd discovered a shared love for shooting.
Boyd was a mad keen wildfowler. After his career in
naval architecture, he designed and built his own punt gun
and a punt on which to mount it. During the 1958 Sceptre
Challenge, Boyd lamented that he “hardly had the time to
lift a gun”, but he seems to have made time to go shooting
with Scott through the 1960s. David Boyd maintained his
own rough shoot at the head of the Holy Loch in Scotland- now a nature reserve. Boyd’s firearms designs are works
of art. The gunsmiths at Lewis & Son of Birmingham
wrote approvingly of his work when they received the
designer’s hand-crafted components for final assembly.
Enthusiastic wildfowlers of that generation enjoyed
both observing and shooting the birds. This seems
inconsistent today but, at the time, there were no
contradictions in a wholesome appreciation of wildlife
that included a healthy taste for the flesh of the prey after
a morning’s sport. Wildfowlers, as an influential lobby,
have played a crucial role in conserving and managing
the wetland habitats where wildfowl congregate. Scott
was a founder member of the World Wildlife Fund,
supported by the arguably more lethal Philip Morris
Cigarettes, via contacts with the Maxwell family in
South Africa. Glasgow businessman Eric Maxwell, who
bought Sceptre from the Royal Yacht Squadron
syndicate, later became another shooting companion.
Below, l-r:
Norfolk
wildfowlers of
old; their modern
counterparts,
with very similar
boats and gunsThe ethics of punt gunning aim to give the birds a
sporting chance. It is illegal to shoot from a motorised
vessel, so punts are powered by elbow grease. Quants
and paddles are fine when close stalking, but punting
across open water is back-breaking work. Fortunately,
there is a loophole; punts can hoist canvas to engage
distant flocks. Wildfowlers quickly discovered that a slim,
light double-ender is effortless to row and sails like a witch- even with a small and inefficient leg o’mutton sail. One
imagines that there was a ‘light bulb’ moment when a
sailor, blowing home after a disappointing day in the fens,
thought to rig his miniature vessel with a centreboard,
rudder and proper rig. After that, racing was inevitable.
Stewart Morris won the first official Norfolk Punt Race
in 1923. Stewart was then just 13 but would become one
of our best-known small-boat sailors. In fact, a virtual
‘Who’s Who’ of the period sailed punts. At the 1936
Berlin Olympics, punters Chris Boardman and Russell
Harmer won 6-M gold, while Peter Scott took bronze in
the Monotype. Stewart Morris won gold in the Swallow
Class in the 1948 London Olympics.
Peter Scott became a born-again conservator, but in
his youth he was an excellent shot. Scott enthused about
punt gunning, describing it as much the best way to go
wildfowling – and therefore the most enjoyable of all
activities, bar none! Over time, this enthusiasm waned
but, even after he renounced ‘killing for sport’, Scott still
recalled the sheer thrill of stalking widgeon. “A punting
expedition required organisation, generalship and
seamanship. It was difficult and arduous, usually
disappointing and sometimes dangerous.”
Boat-handling skills, acquired through punt gunning,
gave Scott a head start in dinghy sailing. He was coached
by Stewart Morris – older now and a fellow Cambridge
student. Many years and championship wins later, Scott
would become President of the IYRU (1969-1986) where
his early exposure to the challenges of ‘organisation and
generalship’ came in useful. Unfortunately, Scott’s
nascent campaign skills were not yet evident during his
“Though some may ride and some
may shoot, while others like to hunt
The finest sport in all the world is
sailing in a punt”
(The Norfolk Punt Club Song by Eric Chamberlin, 1936)