Flotilla for the Dart 2025

4th November 2025 Caitlin Irwin

The Flotilla for the Dart took to the water this weekend, bringing together friends, families and local supporters for a day of sunshine, laughter, herons, seals and pasties.

After the success of last year’s testing crowdfunder, Friends of the Dart have now launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a River Dart Hub Platform. The new hub will bring together and share information about water quality and the many ways local people can help protect the river. It will also serve as a public resource for communities to stay informed and hold water companies to account.

Friends of the Dart, CIC is a community group based in Devon with a mission to advocate for the River Dart. They work to identify and minimise pollution, improve biodiversity and empower communities from source to sea and do this through scientific-based advocacy and constructive engagement. They are one of several groups in the UK seeking to contribute to the well-being of all rivers, through shared best practice, leadership and collaborative working.

The crowdfunder was launched with a kayak flotilla up the Dart, leaving from Higher Ferry Slipway in Dartmouth on Sunday 2nd November, with supporters gathering from 11:30am to chat and wave the paddlers off. As reported here on the Totnes Pulse, the event culminated in coming together with the Right to Roam mass tresspass event.

Organisers expressed their thanks to the team at Sea Kayak Devon for their generous support, and to everyone who took part in this growing community event.

The Flotilla for the Dart is now an annual celebration of the river and of those working together to protect it.

The crowdfunder can be found here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/river-dart-hub