Norfolk Punt Club Athene Cup at Thurne Mouth

by Charlie Stewart 14 Oct 08:19 UTC 3 October 2026

An eventful day, including blue lights, a deflated Race Officer incentive, a jostling start line, interchanging positions, then a nip-and-tuck finish for the, pointed at both ends, Norfolk Punts.

The Athene Cup traditionally marks the season's final race for these high-performance boats, and it has been hotly contested for 98 years. The race starts at the meeting of two Norfolk Broad rivers, the Thurne and the Bure. This year eleven Punts turned up and proved the meaning of sailing friendship.

The events of the day started as I drove from Essex to Norfolk on the morning of the race, and I received a message from my crew explaining that due to a family member being taken ill, he would be unable to sail. There followed frantic calls, and eventually Will Pank was volunteered by his friends to fill the gap as crew of 'Snowgoose'. On arrival at Bureside Marina and the announcement of who was crewing, there were collective groans and comments about coming up smelling of roses. Unknown to me, Will is currently sailing for Team GB in the 49er class, so he should be fairly competent in the front of a Punt!

As we were rigging, the wind kept dropping, which gave echoes of last year's drift around the river. The shoreside briefing by Race Officer, Val Khambatta, included reminders to all competitors that being over the line was not an option, and the traditional tea and cakes after the race would be withheld from anyone in contravention of this rule!

Jane and Megan Pye in 'Wild Goose 2' won the start and led the fleet up the River Bure towards St Benet's in a light shifty wind. About 10 minutes into the race, there was a call and a burst of activity with the rescue boats. It transpired that class stalwart and aficionado, John Parker in 'Wild Goose', was having difficulty breathing. Now, whether this was due to the excitement of seeing his daughter and granddaughter leading the fleet or problems with a "dickey ticker" remains a mystery to this day. However, the whole fleet immediately sailed back to check on John, and he was given wonderful assistance by members of the fleet, notably Mark Elson. Thank you Mark.

An ambulance was called, and John was returned to shore whilst the fleet enjoyed early tea and cakes. This rather took Val's ammunition away for early-starter penalties for the restarted race, but as it turned out, we were all well-behaved. As soon as the ambulance arrived, the fleet set off for a restart.

Fortunately, the breeze had built during our time out. Those who have sailed on the Norfolk Broads will know the rivers are not very wide, and with 22ft long boats it becomes crowded very quickly. It was a bit tasty in the minute before the start, but Charlie and Will in 'Snowgoose' somehow found a gap and won the start. Jane and Megan had gone 5 seconds too early and had to bear away down the line, meaning they were held on the bank whilst the fleet had time to tack away and give them room. This allowed Charlie and Will to escape up the river, and quickly open a good gap to the chasing bunch, led by Rupert and Seth in 'Redwing', closely pursued by Simon and Rachel Clayton in the beautiful traditional punt 'Decoy'.

Having rounded the windward mark towards St Benet's it was a long spinnaker run down to Upton Dyke. Charlie and Will extended their lead, but there was plenty of place changing behind in the tightly bunched fleet.

Following the turn at the leeward mark, it was a beat back to the Committee boat with a fair tide. 'Redwing' and 'Decoy' rounded the mark close together and engaged in a huge tacking duel back up the river with 'Decoy' getting in front of 'Redwing', much to Simon and Rachel's delight. Six boats finished within the next two minutes of Redwing, demonstrating how tight the racing was within the fleet. Slightly further back were two of the oldest boats in the fleet, 'Prawn', 108 years old and 'Shuck', 95 years old. After a good race around the course between the boats, 'Prawn' led 'Shuck' home.

As 'Decoy' is a traditional Punt and does not carry a spinnaker, she has a different handicap to the newer Hardchine and Morrison designed Punts. Was she close enough to save her time on 'Snowgoose?' Charlie thought she was, Simon thought she was not. At the prize-giving it was revealed that 'Snowgoose' had beaten 'Decoy' by the narrowest of margins, with 'Redwing' in 3rd place and Henry Drew in 'Goosander' in 4th place.

Thanks go to Val and Neville Khambatta and their band of merry helpers and cake makers for putting on a great day's racing despite some of the challenges the day brought.

As a footnote, when John was in the ambulance and advised he was ok, he was given the option of going home or going to A&E. John promptly rejected both these options to the Ambulance crew as he had planned a social engagement with the fleet that night. They agreed he could attend as long as he behaved himself and we were delighted to see John turn up for the post-race debrief.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm & Crew
1	96	Snowgoose	Charlie Stewart & Will Pank
2	40	Decoy	Simon & Rachel Clayton
3	98	Redwing	Rupert Redington & Seth Futter
4	89	Goosander	Henry & Alastair Drew
5	49	Snark	Mark Elson & Sara Mulhearn
6	103	Wild Goose 2	Jane & Megan Pye
7	75	Rainbow Trout	Terry Vincent & Emily Vaughan
8	19	Prawn	Bill & Alison Glover
9	86	Peregrine	Noel Bradshaw & Tom Russel‑Grant
10	85	White Eagle	Jack Holland & Gavin Smith
11	28	Shuck	Chris Balls & Paul Durrant