regional customs
Punts deliver races on the Neckar in Tübingen
One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. photo
© Michael Nagel/XinHua/dpa
In the traditional punt race, the participants have to drive around the Tübingen Neckarinsel as quickly as possible. Fame and beer beckon to the winners, the losers should be insensitive to taste.
Beer for the winners, cod liver oil for the losers: Thousands of onlookers watched the traditional punt race in Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg. 46 boats tried to sail around the Neckarinsel in the city center as quickly as possible and to be the first to reach the finish line.
The passage between the Eberhardsbrücke and the Neckarinsel is considered to be particularly difficult. The so-called eye of the needle has to be passed through twice from different directions and offers the spectators the best view of the race – and this year also of a mishap: the boat belonging to the Alte Turnerschaft Palatia student fraternity capsized in the middle of the Neckar Bridge.
The ATV Arminia team won the race this year. The boat of the Turnerschaft Hohenstaufia was the last to cross the finish line. Traditionally, there are drinks for both teams: for the winners a keg of beer, for the losers half a liter of cod liver oil, which has to be forced down in front of the assembled audience. In addition, the losing team has to organize the race next year.
The Tübingen punts are so-called flat boats made of wood, which are pushed off the bottom of the Neckar with a long punt and thus gain momentum.