Water jousting

Water jousting is a sport practised principally in France and also Switzerland and Germany. It is a form of jousting where the adversaries carrying a lance and protected only by a shield stand on a platform on the stern of a boat. The boat is propelled by oarsmen or, in some cases, a motor may be used. The aim of the sport is to send the adversary into the water whilst maintaining one's own balance on the platform.

The jousters stand on a wooden platform on their boats. As the two competing boats draw level with each other, each jouster, protected by their shield, uses their lance to push his opponent off the platform and into the water. The exact rules of the contest vary from region to region and country to country.

Ancient world

The oldest representations of water jousting have been found on bas-reliefs dating from the Ancient Egyptian Empire (2780 – 2380BC). It would seem however, that these relate more to a form of brawling than a leisure activity; given that the jousters are wearing no form of protection and carry gaffes armed with two points at their end.