Eight interesting facts about punting in Cambridge

Punt numbers

There are over 300 commercial punts which are licensed to operate in Cambridge.

Licence fees

In terms of licence fees, the short section of river called the College backs is the most profitable body of water per square meter in the country.

Passenger numbers

An estimated 900,000 people go punting each year in Cambridge. That’s approximately 130,000 college backs trips.

How much does a punt cost?

Punts are traditionally made out of hard wood. Some modern punts are crafted using fiberglass. The prices range from £5000-£10,000 for a brand new professional punt. Cambridge Punt builders build traditional wooden punts to a high standard.

What was the first commercial punting Company in Cambridge?

The first company was Scudamores which was founded in 1910 at the Mill pond.

Why do people punt from the back in Oxford?

Most punts have a deck at the rear. In Cambridge, we stand on this whilst we punt. In some places like Oxford the deck was used to mount a punt gun. After the guns were no longer used the Oxford punters continued to stand in the front because they preferred the lower centre of gravity.

The fastest punt tour

The fastest punt tour was recorded in 2003 by Edward Hunt, in a time of 22minutes from Jesus Green to Silver street and back. This gave an average speed of 3.8 miles per hour. The punt was named the Millennium Falcon. The punt had a completely flat bottom. Edward said the banana-shaped hull looked terrible by helped him because he punted on the one side.

Largest punt

In modern times the maximum number of passengers is limited to 12. Before the maximum was implemented Scudamores Punting Company built a 25 seater punt. During the 1990’s punters would increase their capacity by lashing multiple punts together. The maximum recorded in a commercial tour was 5 small punts. It’s likely that those punts were overloaded compared to today’s standards, so that would have been around 35 passengers.

Book your Cambridge punting tour

Scholars is one of the best punting companies in Cambridge, and we’d love to welcome you aboard one of our traditional vessels. Book your Cambridge punt tour here.