Cuckoo

Cuckoo (1995)

A Norfolk Punt designed by Stephen Jones.

A Lines plan, foil plans and sail plans were supplied by SJ and I was asked to build the boat with "traditional appeal and style" (following the pattern of my construction of punts "Scoot" and "Goosander") while the provision to be as "light as possible" was delegated to second place. In my own mind, to make a boat strong and durable almost always compromises weight, and hence outright speed.

Although only 20 ft she was inevitably a bit on the heavy side, but she managed a 4th place in the punt championships.

Her owner, Peter Bainbridge then used the design to create the 22 ft Whooper - a WINNER - but not so pretty, being a fibre/foam/epoxy composite hull. Meanwhile Cuckoo's new owners took her on one of the Great Glen Raids where she sailed fine, but was hard to row.......

Here are some photographs to show different aspects