What Counts as an Expedition?
Sean Morley once asked this question of his own work. We've used a version of his answer as the editorial criterion since.
Sean Morley, in the original Welcome page on this site (still preserved in the chronology), once asked the question: what qualifies as an expedition versus a kayak trip or holiday? He concluded: it's open to interpretation, but to feature on this website the trip should be something reasonably significant.
We've used a version of his answer as the editorial criterion ever since. Here's what we actually look for.
Length and commitment
At least a few days of self-supported paddling, typically a week or more. A weekend coastal paddle is a trip; a fortnight of self-contained coastal paddling with bivouacs is approaching expedition.
Genuine self-sufficiency
Expedition kayaking means the paddler must be capable of looking after themselves with the kit they carry. If a support boat is meeting you each evening with hot food, that's expedition-flavoured holiday.
Novel ground or notable scale
Either you're attempting something not previously done, or you're attempting something of significant scale (multiple hundreds of miles, multiple weeks).
Documentation
If we can't tell you about the trip - dates, route, distance, kayak, kayaker - it's not really a record of an expedition.
The grey area
None of these criteria is rigid. We've added trips that were short but groundbreaking, and trips that were long but well-established. The judgement is editorial. If you've made a journey you think belongs on the chronology, submit it - the threshold is genuinely lower than people assume.
Have your own expedition story? Submit it - we publish manually.