PUNTING STYLES

In Cambridge, punters stand on a raised deck, high off the water. One theory is that this was developed so that the ladies of Girton, the earliest college for women in the city, could punt without getting their long skirts wet in the water. In Oxford, punters stand inside the boat, closer to the water and nearer to the boat’s centre. They punt with the till forward, and the vessels have a gently sloping prow. In Cambridge, the punter stands in the stern. Each side believes that their method is the correct one, but the respective positions are known as the Oxford end and the Cambridge end.

Punting Oxford style, standing nearer the centre rather than on the till, or box, as it is referred to locally.