Guidelines

Dabbling In Paddleism Media, LLC assumes and accepts absolutely no risk of any kind associated with any Fastest Known Paddle (FKP) athletic attempt. Dabbling In Paddleism Media, LLC does not encourage athletes to take risks outside of their individual comfort and skill level and certifies that all FKP attempts are solely performed under the athlete(s) and crew(s), if applicable, own risk.

Route Qualification

Competitive fairness note: The documentation standards for FKP routes and attempts exist for the sole reason to ensure transparency, repeatability, and comparability between athletic attempts while maintaining a fair playing field. While the difficulty and extent of the application process is designed to be as simple as possible, the complexity of the process comes at a very distant 4th place relative to the priorities of repeatability, comparability, and fairness. If you have suggestions for improvement, however, we are certainly interested in feedback. For any suggestions, please submit recommendations to: da*****************@***il.com.

Safety note: Again, Dabbling In Paddleism Media, LLC assumes no responsibility for any athlete(s) and/or support crew(s) safety while preparing for, during, or after a FKP attempt. All athlete(s)/crew(s) prepare, train, and compete at their own risk and are encouraged to keep safety as their top priority well above the athletic attempt itself.

Definitions

Route: An accepted plan of action that an athlete will follow that will set an athletic standard for that body (or multiple bodies) of water. Each route must be approved by the FKP team. It is highly suggested to submit a route prior to an attempt to ensure FKP route standards are met ahead of an attempt, however, routes can be submitted after an athletic attempt.

Attempt: An athletic endeavor that follows the specifications of an accepted FKP route. An attempt does not need to be completed or best an existing FKP in order for an attempt to be documented on the FKP website. The validity of each attempt must be approved by the FKP team before it qualifies as a FKP attempt and/or a new FKP.

Route Standards

Overall: Each route should be supremely epic in some way which would inspire others to repeat the attempt. All routes should be on naturally created waterways with the exception of reservoirs, locks, canals, and dykes (e.g., retention ponds and small man-made lakes/reservoirs will not be considered a route). Each route is encouraged to begin and end at a logical start/stop point, if possible, such as a marina, boat ramp, beginning/end of a river or logical launching spot, parking lot, end of a trailhead leading to a secluded entry point to a body of water, etc.

Awesomeness: FKPs should be supremely epic and/or considered truly epic adventures in the paddling community. In general, FKPs should be the crème de la creme of paddling routes. In other words, ponds, streams, small lakes/reservoirs, and short river sections without significant whitewater will most likely not be considered without epic rationale provided. In your application, please include a brief description of why this route is supremely epic. Although epic doesn’t have to mean that every route needs to match the breathtaking beauty of Lake Powell or the massiveness of the Yukon River, but at the very least it should be popular and/or difficult from a local, remoteness, beauty, and/or historical perspective to help inspire paddlers and create community and excitement for endurance and adventure paddling.

Length: Each FKP must be a minimum of 20 miles (32.19km) long. Meeting the minimum route length does not guarantee that a FKP route will be approved… remember the route must be epic.

Surface: The route must occur primarily on water and not involve travel over ice unless ice travel is performed during a portage.

Beginning/end: Point-to-point(-to-point-etc.) and circumnavigation (paddling around a fixed land mass) routes are the easiest routes to submit from a logistical, documentation, and fairness perspective. Perimeter routes (paddling along shore within the confines of a lake/reservoir) may be accepted, but only under more detailed planning/scrutiny for respectability/fairness reasons. For supremely epic perimeter routes athletes must take care to establish a minimum distance paddled and key GPS checkpoints (minimum: 4) in advance to establish the route that every future athlete must clearly pass around. The reason that perimeter routes are much more difficult to be approved is because water levels may fluctuate significantly from year to year or even season to season (e.g., reservoirs) and more importantly because there are usually no natural barriers on the water (e.g., trails) to ensure that the distance traveled within the perimeter of a body of water is fair and comparable from athlete to athlete to establish a FKP. Ultimately a perimeter route must be meticulously planned to be accepted, because it needs to be repeatable while guaranteeing a fair performance comparison with no outside intervention (e.g., route marked by impermanent buoys or permanent buoys which may be moved by forces of nature from season to season) for future athletes. Additionally, the route needs to be fair, which can be extremely difficult on open water attempts without pre-specified GPS checkpoints and natural permanent land masses to paddle around. For all point-to-point routes, it is imperative to mark the start and finish with exact GPS coordinates. For example, if performing a point-to-point route the start of the route would begin at one GPS point and end at another. While there are no trails on waterways, it is likely that athletes attempting to repeat the route will not follow the exact route between points as previous athlete(s), but starting and stopping at the beginning and ending GPS coordinates designated by the route will ensure fairness when comparing attempts.

Non-paddling routes: In general, non-paddling routes will not be accepted unless portions of the route that are non-paddling are for portaging alone (e.g., to get around a dam or to link 2 or more bodies of water that are not connected via a safely passable water route). Extended hiking portages may be accepted as long as the route primarily occurs over water.

Access: FKPs must be attempted on waterways that are legally available to anyone, therefore, bodies of water that exist on private property only will not be considered. Additionally, bodies of water that are not legal to paddle on by the public will also not be considered.

Routes already established: There will be a higher standard for accepting new variations on already established routes. There should be a specific and significant reason for submitting a new route on the same body of water (e.g., paddling across a large body of water vs. paddling the perimeter, adding an iconic inlet with significant distance to a route in which that inlet had not been paddled previously in a FKP attempt, paddling the perimeter of a body of water a certain number of times to yield a significant milestone mileage amount, linking additional bodies of water via portage that were not included on a previous FKP).

Attempt Standards

Propulsion: The route must be conducted via human power only with handheld-, arm-, or core-powered paddle(s)/oar(s), or hands in the case of prone board efforts, used as the method of converting human energy into forward motion. Other forms of forward locomotion, aside from propulsion used during portaging, that do not include paddle(s)/oar(s)/hand(s)/core such as sail(s), propeller(s), electricity, fossil fuel(s), solar, animals, etc. will not qualify for a FKP route or attempt.

Portages: All portages and non-human powered support must be pre-specified in the route application. Non-human powered support to move your watercraft will only be accepted at portages that require non-human paddled travel (e.g., vehicular, animal). Even when portaging, if non-human power is used to transport a watercraft and/or paddler this automatically qualifies the attempt as a supported or self-supported route. Portage entry and exit points must be marked in advance via GPS waypoints that the paddlers must pass through (within 200 meters) in their watercraft. If a route involves any kind of specialized equipment other than typical paddling gear to progress through a portage, this gear/equipment should be documented in the FKP application. Examples of gear/equipment include, but are not limited to, motor vehicles, wheeled carts, climbing/hauling gear, sleds, and any animal-powered motion. If motor vehicles are used in portages, speeding above locally posted limits is not permitted. 

Ethics: All attempts must follow the “leave no trace” ethic and follow local laws/guidelines/regulations. For example, if a waterway requires boat registration or a permit, proof of registration/permitting including how to obtain the registration with relevant web links must be documented in the proposal and attempt. Another example includes applicable permits that must be obtained to paddle on the waterway and/or camp on the route, which should also be documented (in addition to how to obtain the permit) in the application and attempt. All forest fire prevention methods should be followed based upon local guidance (e.g., open flames not permitted in areas in which they are banned). In areas in which dangerous animals are present (e.g., bears, mountain lions), local laws must be followed regarding dangerous encounter prevention methods (e.g., firearms, bear spray). Any proof of or marginally questionable evidence of breaking any local laws/regulations will disqualify any attempt. All athletes must comply with WADA protocols. Any athlete banned by a sport governing body for a doping violation will not be eligible and may be stripped of previous FKPs if marginally questionable evidence of doping arises in the future.

Races: When a race is held on a waterway of interest for a FKP, that may be considered but must be submitted in advance of the race and meet the same qualifications as all other previously established FKP(s) for that route. Any FKP attempted on a route that also has a race must best the overall race record to be considered a FKP. FKP attempts on an established race route must follow all race rules and meet required gear if the attempt occurs as an accepted race participant. If the FKP attempt is being attempted by a race participant proof of race acceptance must be submitted ahead of the attempt in addition to proof of participation and official finishing time provided after completion of the event. Any race disqualifications will disqualify any accompanying FKP attempt. For those that are not accepted race participants, the FKP attempt may not occur at any point during the timeframe in which the race is being conducted out of respect for the event and other racers unless expressed written consent is granted from the race director. Exceptions to this rule may be made in advance (not guaranteed to be accepted and only considered if requested in the FKP application in advance), however, if effort is taken to prove that there is no feasible way to complete the FKP while also having relatively no chance of interfering with the race in any capacity. For exceptions to be made, the best chance of acceptance will be written consent from the race director.

Official time and verification: The official FKP time is the total elapsed time from start to finish (both start/finish times must be documented via GPS track and via video). Moving time will not be considered for FKPs or reported.

Who: Anyone can attempt a FKP via the name that appears on their government issued identification or passport. Athletes under the age of 18 must also submit a notarized letter of support from parent(s)/guardian(s) in the FKP application.

Categories: Although there are multiple categories that may classify as FKPs in their respective craft classes, there is only one true FKP and this is the fastest time regardless of craft or gender. The best time for craft classes and genders will be documented, recognized, and represented as a best time for craft/gender on the FKP website, but only the single fastest time will be the true and only FKP. If other craft categories are desired to be added to the website, please contact us. Attempts that involve multiple watercraft (e.g., kayak and canoe) will automatically classify as either a self-supported or supported attempt and as a multiple vessel attempt. The only exceptions to this rule would be the combination of any vessel with a foldable or inflatable vessel (e.g., foldable kayak, pack raft, inflatable SUP), which could meet unsupported specifications while attempting a multiple vessel attempt as long as all craft are transported by only the athlete at all stages of the attempt. For example, an athlete cannot start an attempt in a canoe with a deflated stand-up paddle board and finish the route on the SUP while leaving the canoe behind and still consider the attempt unsupported. The rationale for this rule is connected to the leave-no-trace principle in that leaving a canoe (or other craft) behind is not an accepted FKP principle and would only be allowed if planned and ready crew are in location to retrieve it, thus making the attempt supported.

Craft classes:

• Kayak
• Canoe
• Paddle board
• Outrigger canoe
• Dragon boat
• Surfski
• Prone board
• Pack raft
• Multiple vessels

Gender: Separate male and female categories will be accepted for FKP attempts. If any questionable evidence arises regarding the legitimacy of an athletes gender, the FKP attempt may be either disqualified or requirements of chromosomal testing by a FKP laboratory of choice (funded by the athlete) may be required to retain the FKP. If the athlete refuses to fund the testing, the attempt will be disqualified and no record of the attempt will exist amongst our records. While Dabbling In Paddleism Media, LLC respects the rights of adults to physically modify their gender appearance and/or identity and welcomes those that do so to compete in FKP attempts, we do not recognize athletic attempts that do not align with chromosomal male/female designations.

Teams: Teams may be accepted, but may only paddle within the same vessel(s) for the duration of the FKP attempt to qualify for a team FKP (e.g., 2 kayakers paddling together but in separate craft will not qualify for a team FKP… only an individual FKP may be recorded and in a supported fashion in this instance). Those that have support crew or pacers in other craft will be qualified as a supported attempt. Support/pacing crew may not be permitted to paddle with a team or an individual for greater than 75% of the FKP attempt in distance traveled. All team FKP attempts will be classified independent of gender and according to number of paddlers. For example, a team of 4 paddlers consisting of 1 male and 3 females and a team of 4 males will both be classified as teams of 4 that are not classified by gender and will be referred to as a mixed team. 

Route variations

Moving waterways: Routes on moving waterways can be paddled in any direction, or in both directions, but must be specified in the application.
Static waterways: Circumference, perimeter loops, and point-to-point routes will be direction agnostic, meaning that a paddler can attempt and qualify for the route by paddling in any direction (e.g., clock-wise vs. counter-clock-wise, north to south vs. south to north).

Levels of support: Please note that Dabbling In Paddleism Media, LLC does not encourage any athletic attempt to be more or less supported. Please pick the level of support that you are comfortable with, capable of, and aligns with your inspirational, athletic, and more importantly… safety goals.

• Unsupported: This involves no outside support from anyone or anything at any time during the attempt. All gear and rations other than using locally harvested water from natural sources must be with the athlete(s) at the beginning of the attempt and no acquisition of gear or rations may take place at any point during the attempt. For example, no publicly available water via man-made sources or plumbing (unless it is a man-made waterway such as the reservoir the athlete paddles on) are permitted on an unsupported route with the only exception being the water the athlete started the attempt with. No outside consumption of food, materials (e.g., sunscreen, bugspray), or use of gear that was not in, on, or attached to your vessel as you launched the attempt are allowed on an unsupported attempt. Spectators and support crew at the start and finish of the attempt are not considered support in terms of classification of support.
• Self-supported: This involves the use of materials that only the competing athlete(s) both place and access during the attempt such as food, water, and/or gear that are only pre-placed by the athlete(s) attempting the FKP. Publicly available food and/or water is allowed on this type of attempt. Any use of support crew is not permitted during the attempt or allowed for assistance in placing caches along the route to be considered a self-supported route. Pacers are allowed, but must submit signed attestations at the beginning and end of the attempt that no other assistance (e.g., provision of food, water, gear, propulsion, or any other support) was provided. Any support other than pacing will classify as a supported attempt.
• Supported: Any attempt that includes, in any capacity whatsoever, the use of food, water, gear, or motorized propulsion (portages only) that is not supplied by the paddler, or members of the paddling team in the case of a team attempt, before the attempt begins or at any time during the attempt.