Cannon Fire and Cardboard Boats: A Local's Guide to Devon's Regatta Season

There is a stretch of late summer in Devon — roughly the last week of July to the first week of September — when the county's harbour towns stop pretending to be anything other than what they are. Sailing dinghies get dragged out of gardens. Rowing gigs appear on trailers. Committee members in hi-vis start pacing quaysides with clipboards, squinting at the tide. Regatta season is here, and if you have never planned a Devon holiday or a run of day trips around it, this is the year to start.

A word first about what a Devon regatta actually is, because the name undersells it. Yes, there is sailing, and some of it is serious — national championship fleets come to Torbay and Dartmouth in August. But the regattas themselves are much older and much stranger than yacht racing. They are week-long town festivals that happen to be anchored to the water: harbour swims, gig races, crabbing competitions, greasy poles, raft races, fun runs, dog shows, fireworks. Most of the events are free to watch, a surprising number are open to anyone brave enough to enter, and each town's version has been shaped by more than a century of local stubbornness into something you will not find replicated anywhere else.

Here is how the season unfolds, from this week onwards.

Salcombe Town Regatta — 25 July to 1 August

The season opens at the southern tip of the South Hams. Salcombe's town regatta dates back to 1856, and by the 1920s it had become quite the spectacle — accounts from the time describe ocean-going yachts arriving with large crews, every boat in the harbour dressed overall with coloured lights until the water "was like fairyland" at night. The modern regatta is more democratic and, we would argue, better for it: a week of rowing races, raft races, sailing, a fun run, a cycling sportive, a dog show and the famous harbour swim, in which a determined crowd strikes out across one of the most beautiful stretches of water in England while the ferries politely hold off.

Watching tips: the town gets gloriously busy during regatta week, so consider doing what locals do and approach from the other side. The ferry from Salcombe to East Portlemouth takes minutes, and the sandy coves on the eastern shore give you the whole harbour as a grandstand.

Appledore and Instow Regatta — late July into August

North Devon's contribution is one of the oldest of the lot. A North Devon Regatta was established on the Torridge estuary as far back as 1831, and the Appledore and Instow Regatta proper has run since 27 July 1885, missing only the war years since. This is the regatta at its most gleefully traditional: competitive club rowing and gig racing on the estuary, vintage model yacht racing, a greasy pole over the water, and — our favourite fixture in the entire Devon sporting calendar — the World Crabbing Competition, in which the ancient art of dangling bacon off a quay is contested with total seriousness.

One practical note: because racing here depends on the tides, the exact dates shift year to year, usually landing in the last week of July or the first week of August. Check the regatta's programme or social media before you travel. Whichever week it falls, the view across the water between Appledore's narrow streets and Instow's long sandy beach is reason enough to go.

The big week: Dartmouth and Torbay — 22 to 30 August

The August bank holiday period belongs to the two heavyweights, and in 2026 they overlap almost exactly.

The Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta is the grandest of Devon's regattas and carries the best origin story. The first recorded regatta on the Dart was held in 1822, with the town formally electing a regatta committee in 1834. Then, in 1856, Queen Victoria's yacht put into Dartmouth unexpectedly when bad weather interrupted her voyage — and by way of thanks for the town's welcome, she bestowed the "Royal" title the regatta has carried ever since. It has been cancelled only eleven times since 1834, which tells you something about how seriously Dartmouth takes it.

Regatta Sailing Week 2026 runs from 22 to 30 August: dinghies and junior fleets race the first days, a passage race bridges midweek, and the yachts take over from the 27th, this year including the GBR IRC national championships and the J/109 nationals. But the racing is only half of it. The week piles up air displays (the Red Arrows have been regular visitors over the years), evening fireworks over the river, street markets, road races and a run of novelty events — waiters' races and waterborne tug-of-war among them — that stop the whole thing becoming too grand. For watching, the terraces above Bayard's Cove are hard to beat, or cross to Kingswear on the ferry and watch the river traffic with the sun behind you.

The same week, around the headland, the Royal Torbay Yacht Club hosts the Torbay Royal Regatta from 22 to 25 August. This is the most sailing-forward of the big events — up to a hundred boats across three race areas in the bay, with the IRC South West Championships and national titles for the Impala, J/24 and RS21 fleets all being decided on Torbay's famously reliable water. If you would rather watch proper fleet racing from solid ground with a cup of tea, the bay's natural amphitheatre — from Torquay's seafront round to Berry Head — is about as good as spectating gets in this country.

Shaldon Regatta — 23 to 31 August

And then there is Shaldon, which might be our favourite of all. The little village on the south bank of the Teign estuary, all Georgian cottages and small boats drawn up on the sand, has been holding its regatta for 209 years — and it has grown into a nine-day marathon of more than 130 events. Rowing, kayaking, paddleboarding, sailing in the village's Otter dinghies, rounders on the beach, junior events by the dozen — and, crucially, equipment is provided for many of them, so visitors and complete beginners can actually take part rather than just watch. That open-handedness is rare, and it makes Shaldon the regatta to pick if you have children who want to do something rather than spectate. Watch the water from the village beach, or climb the Ness — the great red sandstone headland at the estuary mouth — for the long view over it all.

The last word: Bideford's Cardboard Regatta — 6 September

The season closes with the silliest and possibly the most Devon event of them all. On Sunday 6 September, Bideford Quay hosts the Water Festival and Cardboard Regatta, in which crews race the River Torridge in boats built entirely from cardboard. Some survive the course; the best moments belong to the ones that do not. Around the racing there is morris dancing, sea shanty singing, live music and stalls along the quay, all free to watch and organised by the town's Rotary Club with proceeds going to local causes and the RNLI. This year's build theme, for reasons we fully endorse and cannot explain, is steampunk.

Making a season of it

If you only manage one, make it whichever is nearest — every one of these events is at its best when you wander in with no plan and let the day happen to you. But there is a case for the full tour: Salcombe as July turns, Appledore for crabbing and gigs, the bank holiday split between Dartmouth's fireworks and Torbay's racing, a Shaldon afternoon actually in a boat rather than beside one, and Bideford to see the whole thing off in a soggy shower of cardboard. Take the ferry rather than the car wherever one exists, carry cash for the programme sellers, and don't stand too close to the greasy pole. Two hundred years of Devon summers have refined these weeks into exactly what they should be. All you have to do is turn up.