Steam Boat Association of Great Britain upcoming events

Windermere Rally 2026 (14 Jun 2026)

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

WINDERMERE RALLY 2026

WINDERMERE MOTOR BOAT RACING CLUB

Broad Leys, Ghyll Head, Windermere. LA23 3LJ

Sunday 14th June—Friday 19th June 2026

This year the Windermere Rally will basically follow the same pattern as in previous years but with a few alterations.

It will be based as usual at the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club and the basic cost per person will be £50.00 for Sunday to Friday inclusive or £12 per day per person. Please note that all vessels on Windermere require to have Windermere Registration. This is £36.00 for renewals and £48 for new registrations and must be obtained from the main Warden’s Office at Murley Moss prior to launching on Windermere. It cannot now be obtained from the Warden’s Office at Ferry Nab. Numbers are not required for steamboats providing they are flying the SBA pendant.

Sunday 14th June Launching at WMBRC from 4.00pm onwards or at Ferry Nab for larger boats with option meal in the evening at WMBRC—£26 pp dress casual.

Monday 15th June Full day steam to Fell Foot. Lunch at Fell Foot, raft up for tea and cakes on the way back. Evenings at your discretion.

Tuesday 16 June Windermere Jetty Museum. Dress-up day. Prize for best dressed boat and crew. Boats and crew to be decorated (not mandatory but preferred) and steam to Windermere Jetty Museum to arrive lunchtime onwards. Lunch can be obtained from the Windermere Jetty Museum Café. Afternoon moored on display at the Jetty or steaming around in the vicinity of the museum. At 4.15pm to accompany SL Osprey on her last trip of the day.

Wednesday 17th June Free daytime steaming in North Lake. WMBRC for BBQ and Music Night from Shamrock £15. 6.30pm onwards.

Thursday 18th June Leisurely start with Treasure Hunt with prizes around Bowness bay and the islands (Storrs Hall to Whitecross Bay if you want to swat up on the area). 7.00pm Gala Dinner and Award presentation, WMBRC, £36.50 pp, dress smart casual.

Friday 19th June Free steaming and haul out by 4.00pm.

Menus for Sunday and Thursday will be available later.

Rally Documents

Boat Declaration - return to Roger Calvert or insert details on the Registration Form.

Skippers Safety Briefing and Risk Assessment will be available once updated

This is a Type 1 Event

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance;

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only

Festival of the Lakes and Windermere Boat Parade (27 Jun 2026)

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:00:00 GMT

FESTIVAL OF THE LAKES and WINDERMERE BOAT PARADE

Saturday 27th July 2027

Windermere Jetty Museum Rayrigg Road Bowness-on-Windermere

We have again been invited to attend the Festival of the Lakes and the Windermere Boat Parade on the 27th June at the Windermere Jetty Museum.

Boats are requested to be on display on the jetties and steaming in the vicinity of the Jetty during the day and to partake in the Boat Parade during the afternoon, time to be confirmed

For those of you not already on the Lake the Jetty Museum is offering free launching and retrieval from their slipway. However boats must be launched before the Museum opens at 10.00am and retrieved after 4.00pm due to public access to the slipway area.

Jetty space at the museum is limited so a prompt response would be appreciated so that I can ensure there is enough jetty space reserved for us.

Only boats and skippers need to register. Guests can attend without registering.

Regards

Dot

Event type 4

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance;

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only

Puffing a-Wey (10 Jul 2026)

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Puffing a-Wey – 10-12 July 2026

Dapdune Wharf, River Wey Navigation, Guildford

We are very fortunate that the National Trust, our gracious hosts, have invited us back for Puffing a-Wey again this year. Puffing a-Wey, named thus by the National Trust has been running since 2011 and still not everyone gets the name right!

It gets called ‘Puffin away’, which is obviously an event under the auspices of the RSPB for sea birds with funny beaks. Others call it ‘Puffing away’, evoking a weekend of serious coughing and wheezing sponsored by the tobacco industry.

A gift event: only charge is for the Saturday barbecue

But ’Puffing-a-Wey’ is the actual name because it’s held on the lovely, intimate, River Wey Navigation and it’s a gift event for those of us in the SBA who care to take our boats along to enjoy it. The only charge made to boat owners is the cost of the Saturday night barbecue for which boaters are charged £15 per head

We’re very grateful to the National Trust team at Dapdune Wharf for the waiving of licence and camping charges and free use of slips and other resources. It’s a real gift event for steamboat owners. Our presence brings in many more visitors than usual to their well-hidden but rather lovely town-centre site

It’s an undemanding weekend. Boats arrive for launching on the Friday and the quay at Dapdune is ours for the weekend. There’s a very usable slip and trailers can be parked in a nearby locked enclosure. Larger boats can use a very gentle slip a mile or so downstream at Stoke Lock in North Guildford. Dapdune itself is the former barge-building and admin centre for the Wey and Godalming Navigations when they were in private ownership and it is tucked away behind the town’s cricket ground, so although Guildford surrounds the site there is a sense of being in the countryside.

On the Friday night there is a shared pub meal at a venue close to Dapdune.

Saturday is the day we’re on display to the public

Saturday is the main event. SBA boats are asked to stick around not too far from the site so that they can be seen by visitors and owners can talk to those who are obviously interested. There are waterside pubs in both directions from Dapdune and those are the ones to use on the Saturday so that the quayside at Dapdune always has some boats milling around providing atmosphere and colour to enhance other activities also there – a model boats exhibition and exhibits by local model engineers for example.

Our very own SBA member Trevor Jenkins will be displaying a selection of his models and SBA VP Mark Rudall will give a talk to NT visitors on things related to steam - in a bigger venue this year as last year not all children and parents could squeeze in for the fun.

Saturday evening sees a barbecue, but the National Trust asks steamboat owners (of suitably sized boats) to be prepared to take some of their River Wey maintenance team volunteers aboard for a short early evening cruise while the barbecue is in preparation. On their return the open air barbecue, a joint NT/SBA effort is shared with the Wey volunteers and is accompanied by music from local entertainers - our very own VP Mark has been known to strum his double bass along with his blue grass jazz colleagues.

Sunday is a free day. Some choose to pull out and head for home while others enjoy the river and set off for a distant pub, but there’s no hurry to go if you have the time.

Ian Bucknall / Mark Rudall

SBA members: please register for the event and we will send you more details nearer the event.

Boat owners: also please download the SBA Boat Owner's Declaration Form and send a completed copy to Ian Bucknall as soon as possible but definitely before the event.

declaration_form sba.pdf

This is a Type 1 Rally

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance;

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only

Bristol Steamboat School (16 Jul 2026)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT

UPDATED 22^nd April: We have now reached the maximum number of registrants for this event. HOWEVER, if you able to attend on the following Monday 20^th July then please continue to sign up via the Waitlist and we will 'bump' you to the Monday event (which we are running for the benefit of the Steam Apprentices Club, a branch of the National Traction Engine Trust).

Both events are aimed at introducing you to the wonderful hobby of Steamboating. Even if you have no 'steamy' knowledge you will be welcome to join us for a fun, easy going day of gentle learning and practical experience.

The day will include a safety briefing, an introductory talk, a look at several different sorts of steamboats (no two steamboats are alike!), a slap-up lunch and then actual trips around the harbour in live steamboat(s).

For more information please feel free to contact Kevin Slater kevin@manorfarmengineering.co.uk or 0790 528 6711

Steamboats@Bristol Harbour Festival 2026 (17 Jul 2026)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 23:00:00 GMT

Steamboats @ Bristol Harbour Festival 2025

Welcome to the Steamboat element of the Bristol Harbour Festival – we look forward to seeing old hands and new faces. The format will be much the same as previous years – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

After a very successful handover of the organisation of the Harbour Festival in 2025 we look forward to an equally successful event in 2026.

The two major changes this year are a 'Steamboating School' on the preceding Thursday (16th July) - see separate Event entry and a joint operation with the Traction Engine "Steam Apprentices Club" which is being organised by Dot Bullough on the following Monday (20th July)

The 2026 format of the steamboat element of the actual Harbour Festival Event will be much the same as previous years (I hope!) with a couple of variations, however, for those with short memories (like me), and those that didn’t attend last year, this is what to expect:

Friday: Launch (Cottage Pub, Baltic Wharf, Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6XG or ///bets.skips.skirt) anytime from about 12h00 onwards.

We will get together for a communal evening meal event of some kind on Friday evening - details later

Saturday: You are at liberty to steam around the festival site (except as commanded by the Harbour Authorities whilst other ‘spectacles’ take place) plus we will have 1, maybe 2, coordinated ‘Steam Processions’, with live PA commentary, through the day – a great chance to show off, especially our whistles and sirens. These processions are where we earn our keep, so to speak, and, whilst participation is not obligatory, they are both good fun and our way of saying ‘Thank You’ to the Festival for their generous hospitality. The Processions will be ‘topped and tailed’ by Harbour Launches so it is a really easy case of ‘follow the leader’. Would those of you that want to promote your boat let me have some ‘blurb’ for the commentator to use – interesting snippets about the boat over and above the basic length, engine and boiler specs are good. We are, again, promised to be featured in the Harbour Festival Programme and I don’t know how much they will print but I will let them have all that you let me have – info sooner rather than later please.

Saturday evening – Meal - venue yet to be determined. This MUST be pre-booked with us.

Sunday: Lazy steam-up (10h00ish) and one procession through the Festival but, instead of turning around, we will just keep on going up the harbour/canal/river until we reach the pub (actually two pubs side by side through a lock). This will give you a chance to see where the ‘Floating Harbour’ joins the River Avon, observe some of Bristol’s industrial past (and present) as well as having a nice chug through some pleasant countryside. Lunch can be taken at either pub (recommend the Lock and Weir Pub) or a picnic onboard your boat before returning via the reciprocal route either straight to pull-out or to another over-night on your berth.

I will be assisting those going home on Sunday to pull out and suggest that you steam straight to the Cottage Pub slipway and moor up on the dinghy pontoons whilst preparing to pull out. This is when a degree of tact and cooperation is required as there will be a large number of other users all wanting to access the slip at this time. I will try to referee and coordinate with the other ‘team leaders’, but please be patient and cooperative in order to ensure that all goes as smoothly as possible.

I will also be in attendance on Monday morning to assist those of you that are pulling out. In some years we have had more of a ‘traffic jam’ at the slip on Monday than we had on Sunday afternoon, so please note the comments above and I am sure it will all go ‘swimmingly’.

Any queries, please contact me on 01275 331074 or Mobile: 0790 528 6711 or via email Kevin@ManorFarmEngineering.co.UK
or snail mail: Manor Farm, Scot Lane, Chew Stoke, BS40 8UW.

We look forward to seeing you all.

Kevin & Gillie Slater

The Member of the SBA coordinating with the Event Organiser is Kevin Slater.

Event type 2

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance.

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only

Steamboats @ Dartmouth Regatta (26 Aug 2026)

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 08:00:00 GMT

STEAMBOATS AT THE DARTMOUTH REGATTA

DARTMOUTH YACHT CLUB

26th- 29th AUGUST 2026

Details will follow shortly but the Parade of Classic Craft will be on Saturday 29th August 2026.

Boat owners please complete the attached Boat Declaration Form and return to Dave Biss as soon as possible but before the event.

declaration_form sba.pdf

This is a Type 2 Rally

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance;

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only

Keeping Your Feet Dry V (11 Sep 2026)

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT

This will be the fifth steamboater training Keeping your Feet Dry event!

The venue again will be the Fell Foot, the National Trust's place at the southern end of Windermere on (provisionally) Friday 11th September 2026.

It designed to be inexpensive, will be for a maximum of 12 people and will be highly informative and hands-on, with time on the water and the opportunity enjoy operating small marine steam plants of different kinds.

It's the ideal starting point if you are thinking of getting a steam boat, or just want to know more and is open to all.

Registration for trainees will open in Summer 2026.

Further information here. A risk assessment is available here.

The handout which was provided at the 2025 event may be downloaded here - we don't foresee any significant changes to it this year.

Registration for boats is open now. Owners of boats participating (Instructors) please register for the event and complete the event declaration on the Registration Form or download and return the form which can be found here. We need at least 4 boats, and the more the better!

Exeter Heritage Harbour Festival 2026 (12 Sep 2026)

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:00:00 GMT

We have again been invited by the Exeter Heritage Trust and the Harbour Master. There will be lots of other activities going on in and around the Basin.

Details of the activities are being finalised but the initial, important information is that the maximum number of boats is 10, boats will be craned in and out free of charge.

We will be able to steam in the basin, up the river and down to the double lock on the canal. There will be free trailer and car parking.

Please only register if you are as sure as you can be that you will be attending!

This will be an SBA Type 2 Event. Organisers are Dave Biss and Gillie & Kevin Slater. Feel free to call us if you want more information before registering.

Kevin/Gillie: kevin@theslaters.net 0790 528 6711

Dave Biss: dave_biss@hotmail.com 01822 854433

Lay-up Rally and Supper 2026 (09 Oct 2026)

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:00:00 GMT

The Lay-up Rally is booked for Friday 10th October to Sunday 12 October. Last year we changed it a bit, and it seemed to work, so the provisional programme will be:

Friday - launch and steam in the North Lake or Bowness Bay. As in previous years, bar snacks will be available at the RWYC in the evening.

Saturday - steam in the South Lake, with lunch at Fell Foot: picnic or pay-as-you-go at the café. Return for the Lay-up Supper at the RWYC in the evening - a menu choice form will be available in due course.

Sunday - Steam in the North Lake. Visit Windermere Jetty Museum at lunchtime; picnic or pay-as-you-go at the café. Return to the Yacht Club to haul out.

A brief description of steaming on Windermere for those unfamiliar with the lake can be found here.

We will not open registration until sometime in the summer, but please enquire if you need any more information.

Please indicate on the registration form if you expect to go to the cafés - no commitment.

Launching facilities for small boats will be available at RWYC, others can launch at the Ferry Nab. All boats must have a Windermere registration, which can be obtained on-line or from the Lake District National Park office in Kendal. It can no longer be bought at the slipway. All boats must submit a declaration. Either complete the details on the Registration Form or download it here, complete it and email it back to the organiser.

Please note the SBA Event Risk Assessment Lay-up 2026.pdf and a new experimental document, the Skippers Safety Briefing.

Location, launching and mooring information

Some suggestions for accomodation:

Accomodation2021.pdf

For further details, or to express an interest, contact Roger Calvert.

Event type 1

Key to event types

1 - SBA Organised Event (owner's declaration required)

2 - SBA organised participation in 3rd party's event (owner's declaration required)

In event types 1 and 2 the SBA organisers and SBA members are covered by the SBA Liability Insurance;

3 - private meeting of members with or without boats

4 - private, individual participation of members in 3rd party's event

5 - for information only