Friends, Family, and Full Throttle

Twenty seasons in, Performance Boat Club brings its power, speed and giving-back spirit to the Ottawa River for Giver on the River 2026 — and the docks have never been more welcoming.

There’s a moment on the Friday night of every Performance Boat Club weekend when the docks fill up and the whole thing comes into focus. Engines tick as they cool. Old friends find each other before their lines are even tied off. First-timers get waved over, handed a plate, and folded into the group like they’ve been coming for years. The boats are the reason everyone drove in — but the people are the reason they come back.

Somewhere across twenty consecutive seasons, a group of performance boating enthusiasts became something closer to a family. That isn’t marketing language; it’s just what happens when the same good people keep showing up, year after year, and give a weekend everything they’ve got — on the water, behind the registration desk, and on the dock at midnight.

That’s really the whole story of Performance Boat Club: for more than twenty years, a group that comes together — season after season — to make a difference. Fast boats bring everyone to the dock; it’s each other, and the communities they get to help, that keep them coming back.

A community worth belonging to

Performance Boat Club Events exists to bring people together through the passion of performance boating — promoting safe and responsible boating, generating meaningful charitable impact, and building a community worth belonging to. Four words ride on every banner: POWER · SPEED · COMMUNITY · CHARITY.

You feel all four across a single weekend. Saturday opens with a compulsory drivers’ and safety meeting — a route review, a read on the weather and water, first aid confirmed and visible — and then the engines fire and a marshalled fleet heads out to run the course. By evening the same crews are shoulder to shoulder at the awards dinner, bidding up the silent and live auctions, playing the Captains’ Calcutta, and cheering the 50/50 draw. Fast boats by day; a room full of friends by night.

“A club where the docks are full, the causes are worthy, and the friendships outlast every season.”

— from the club’s vision statement

Twenty years, done right

Behind the fun is a discipline the club is quietly proud of. Founded in 2005 and based in Bobcaygeon, PBCE has run its events across Ontario’s finest waterways for twenty consecutive seasons — raising more than $1 million for Ontario charities, earning a national charitable rating in the top 10%, and maintaining a zero-loss safety record the entire way: no major incident, no chargeable insurance claim. Safe and responsible performance boating isn’t a slogan here; it’s the reason the club is still on the water two decades later. None of that happened by accident.

Giving back to the communities that host us

Every event on the calendar exists to raise money for a cause tied to the community that hosts it. Over the years the club’s giving has grown up alongside it — from national children’s charities in the early seasons to the local hospitals, scholarships, museums and veterans’ organizations that anchor recent years. When a 2024 apartment fire displaced families in the club’s own home town of Bobcaygeon, members rallied through the Spring Shakedown to help their neighbours. Giving back to the communities that welcome the fleet isn’t a footnote to the weekend. It’s the point of it.

This August, it comes to the Ottawa River

That whole spirit lands in the Upper Ottawa Valley this summer. Giver on the River 2026 runs August 21–22 out of Jubilee Lodge & Marina in Petawawa, billed as the premier performance boating event on the Ottawa River — and every dollar supports the Pembroke Regional Hospital Foundation, advancing health care across Pembroke, Petawawa and the Upper Ottawa Valley.

 New for 2026, the best poker hand of the day takes home a $5,000 cash prize.

“The Ottawa River gives us one of the most beautiful runs on our calendar, and doing it in support of the Pembroke Regional Hospital Foundation is exactly why this club exists — power and speed on the water, turned into care close to home,” said Jeff Devolin, President of Performance Boat Club Events.

There’s never been a better weekend to join in — the savings stack up fast:

• Early Bird — $675 (save 10%): register before Aug 12
• New Members Welcome — $150 off your first event with a paid membership
• Extra crew, this event only — just $100 per person
• Stack all three and save as much as $325 off regular event fees

All boats 18 ft and larger are welcome; all event and registration fees are plus HST. Register at performanceboatclub.ca/product/pembroke/.

Room in the fleet — both sides of the water

Whether you run the Ottawa River around Pembroke and Petawawa, launch out of Ottawa and the valley, or cross over from the Quebec side, there’s a place for your boat in this fleet — and a welcome waiting on the dock. The club that became a family is still growing, still raising money for good causes, and still saving a spot for the next generation of performance boating enthusiasts.

Come run with us. Register for Giver on the River or become a member at performanceboatclub.ca.