Taking a Punt

Several years ago, for some reason I still can't quite explain - even to myself - I became fascinated with the idea of punting. As in, the technique for propelling a boat through shallow water with a pole:



It started shortly after I saw an episode of Dr Who in which the Doctor took Romana punting down some river or other (can't recall which), and said something about how great punting was. It was the first time I had noticed there was a difference between the way people propelled a punt to the way they propelled a gondola, and I thought it was most intriguing.

That concept sat, stewing in my brain for a few years, until I took up unicycling. I started by buying a 24 inch unicycle from a local shop, but then went and built my own 20 inch unicycle from parts bought from the Australian and New Zealand shops tied into unicycle.com. While I was poking around their shop, I discovered the concept of an impossible wheel:



Now, most people would look at that thing and say: "that's one of the stupidest ideas ever".

They would be right, of course, except for using the word "stupidest". It should be "most stupid".

Me? I looked at it and thought: "I wonder if you can punt with that thing?"

The answer to the question turns out to be "no". I bought the platforms and attached them to a good quality BMX wheel I bought specifically for the purpose, and promptly discovered that you can't actually mount and propel an impossible wheel while it is stationary.

Turns out the only real way to get one of the things moving is to get it going while you aren't standing on it, and then jump on the moving death-trap and hope for the best. If your balance is excellent, you can pull it off. Mine isn't, and while I may be stupid I'm not suicidal.

Ever since then I've been looking at that wheel and wondering if I can do something else with it. I keep coming up with all sorts of ideas for bicycle related contraptions, which may be entirely possible if not for the fact that I don't have to ability to build new things, only assemble existing things according to instructions.

In the back of my mind, though, I still want to punt with it. The main reason why you can't get it going from a stationary position is because the wheel itself leans against your leg when you try to brace for balance. I maintain that, if you designed some sort of cage to keep the wheel free while still bracing, you would be able to use a pole to mount and propel the wheel...

I also think "land punting" might work better if you were on at least two wheels and a platform, so part of me wants to buy a matching wheel and try sticking them into a board of some description, or creating something like this:



Only with the wheel-board relationship altered so that the wheels go in the center line and the board splits on either side...

Or maybe it would make more sense to just get a real longboard and us it as is. Then I'd still have a spare wheel lying around the place, but I've enjoyed dreaming about what I could do with the wheel, so I guess I can keep dreaming about it.

And, no, I don't have a good reason for wanting to punt on solid land. I don't have a good reason for most of the things I want to do.