“Paddle Worldwide” was first announced as the new name for the International Canoe Federation in 2024, and as of Sunday the 26th July 2026, it’s now official. The global governing body for paddlesports released a new logo, brand colours, and website. That said, Planet Canoe is still “Planet Canoe” on YouTube and social media (just with a new logo).

The ICF’s move to use “paddling” over “canoeing” followed changes by national governing bodies including Paddle Australia (2018) and Paddle UK (2024). At least one continental governing body has followed suit: the European Canoe Association became Paddle Europe at the start of 2026. The new Paddle Worldwide brand guidelines include suggested logos for Paddle Europe, as well as names and logos for the other continental governing bodies that haven’t yet changed names.

The ICF said its main intent with the new name and new branding is “inclusivity”: “The [new brand] identity is guided by five brand principles: Belong, Progress, Open, Together and Water, which shape its ambition to create a welcoming, inclusive and future-focused global community.” Practically, that “inclusion” might look like a renewed focus on non-Olympic disciplines and new initiatives to include recreational paddlers.

“More people. More places. More paddlesport.”

“More paddlesport”, or more paddlesports? One of the key themes for the ICF in recent years has been the addition of paddling disciplines that aren’t traditionally considered “canoeing.” That includes “canoe ocean racing” (largely surf ski kayak, but also outrigger canoe) which had its first ICF World Championships in 2013 and stand up paddling, which had its first ICF World Championships in 2019. Shifting public perceptions of the canoe federation to a “paddling” organisation may help Paddle Worldwide improve its governance claims over these disciplines, particularly those with competing international governing bodies.

Stand Up Paddling (SUP)

The ICF had to fight hard for the right to host SUP events, winning that right in a court case against the International Surfing Association in 2020. In the same case, though, the ICF lost the right to take SUP to the Olympics – a battle the organisation may return to at some point in the future since the ISA seems to have made no progress on getting SUP into the Olympics.

Dragon Boat

Dragon boat racing governance is also contested internationally between the ICF and the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF). Paddle Worldwide President Thomas Konietzko specifically called out dragon boat racing as a focus area after showcasing the sport in between flat water sprint races at the 2024 Paris Olympics: “We want to and will invest more resources, both financial and human, in developing Dragon Boat as one of ICF’s key disciplines.” For now, at least, it seems athletes will continue to have the option to race under either federation.

Canoe Ocean Racing

Tensions heated up recently over outrigger canoes, a class sometimes included in the discipline that the ICF calls “Canoe Ocean Racing”. The ICF has hosted small outrigger canoe (va’a) classes at previous Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships and World Cups specifically for six-person outriggers (OC6 or V6) and one-person ruddered outriggers (OC1). But the main World Championships for va’a paddlers are those hosted by the International Va’a Federation (IVF), which include classes for six-person outriggers and one-person rudderless outriggers (V1).

In April 2026, the IVF posted a statement saying the federations had mutually agreed that the ICF would not include OC1 classes this year: “Following constructive and positive dialogue between both organisations, and in the spirit of strengthening future collaboration, the ICF has decided to remove OC1 (single outrigger canoe) events for both men and women from the official programme of the 2026 ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Cup Series.”

It was an unusual statement coming from an organisation that is currently working on plans to decrease the frequency of their World Championships after an “off year” in 2027, and historically hasn’t hosted OC1 races (only rudderless V1s). But apparently the ICF’s inclusion of OC1 in their Canoe Ocean Racing events has spurred the IVF to start their own OC1 races. Lara Collins, president of the IVF, told Mathieu Astier of Total Paddler this week that a new OC1 class will be introduced to the IVF World Championships from 2028 (location to be announced). Collins, who also presides over Waka Ama New Zealand, said: “We’re talking regularly with the ICF, we have an agreement with them which has been in place for nearly 20 years… We [both] want to encourage participation.” She confirmed that more conversations are planned for the future, including about the World Paddle Games.

Despite the IVF laying claim to OC1, their April statement on the current agreement with the ICF only covers the 2026 season. So the door for OC1 to be part of Canoe Ocean Racing in 2027 and beyond may yet be cracked open.

Changing colour, changing language, and a changing focus?

One of the biggest shocks of the new Paddle Worldwide branding is the change in colour from blue to orange. The previous ICF logo had distinctive blue and white water-inspired shapes. The new logo’s shape is inspired by a paddle (and, apparently, a boat) in bright orange. According to the new brand guidelines, the orange is “inspired by high visibility elements found across paddlesports, including safety equipment…” Put another way: in one of the few sports that, by its nature, requires spending time in beautiful blue and green spaces, the new branding is inspired not by the water, but by the colour of the safety equipment. 

“Recreation is becoming the sport’s centre of gravity”

The colour orange isn’t the only nod to recreational paddling in the Paddle Worldwide rebrand.

The rebrand launch video features several clips of recreational paddling interspersed with exciting competition footage. Any doubts about the video’s theme that aren’t answered by the visuals of smiling parents helping children buckle a life jacket or take their first strokes are resolved by the video’s final, grand statement: “The greatest achievement isn’t reaching the finish. It’s helping someone else reach the start.”

Just a few days post-rebrand, PWW drove the point home with an article all about recreational paddling. It highlights beginner-friendly programming led by Olympian Andy Train in Birmingham (UK), an initiative that has received support and significant coverage from Paddle UK. That’s not the only leaf that Paddle Worldwide seems to be taking out of Paddle UK’s book.

The explosion in recreational paddling, particularly SUP, during the COVID-19 pandemic was part of the impetus for British Canoeing’s rebrand to Paddle UK in 2024. A rapid influx of paddleboarding members suddenly shifted the national governing body’s membership balance to majority-SUP for the first time in its history. The Paddle Worldwide article cites data from the UK about the increase in people taking part in outdoor recreation (34 million people, 3.1 million more than a decade ago). And then concludes: “For paddling, those figures point towards a simple conclusion – recreation is becoming the sport’s centre of gravity.”

For racing and paddlesports fans, the idea that some of these recreational paddlers could enter competition pathways makes it feel possible that paddlesports might someday become mainstream. But whether that’s a real possibility, or if it’s even part of Paddle Worldwide’s goals, is too early to say.

Early feedback on the new branding from paddlers and paddling fans on social media has largely focused on its similarity to existing brands, including the McLaren logo. The new format and style for social media posts (left) could also easily be mistaken for an easyJet ad (right).