Last year they changed it to not being a requirement. Do check though as they're a bunch of retards and likely to have changed back again.

that's correct, you no longer need the boat license to sign up for the IKO course or get certified as an IKO instructor.

This is a bit silly as during your course you will have to show that you are able (with the help of others) to rescue a kitesurfer from a boat. This will be done as in this video:



Most schools operate without a rescue boat, but if you ever plan to work in a school that operates in deep water and has a rescue boat they may ask you for a license and you will have to be competent at rescuing kiters from the boat, sometimes all by yourself.

Christian

Hi Guys,

IKO may or may not need the license, but KA and BKSA do. This will all come down to a few things.

Duty of care: You have a duty to your customers to be suitably licensed to operate a vessel either as part of a lesson or a rescue. This could form a loop hole for an insurer to back out of a payment if an accident ocurred. To take it o the letter of the law. If you teach from a boat and carry the student out into the sea, you most likely need a coxwains certificate and a surveyed vessel. This is part of carrying "fare paying passengers" Technically it could be argued you are carrying passengers like this and theoretically land you in serious hot water if an accident happened..

School or local Authority requirements : It would be mandatory in most 1st world countries to be accredited or licensed in line with that countries/states legal requirements. Most states of Australia except NT (I think), demand you have a skippers "ticket" or license. Working on the waters using boats would just make plain sense to have your arse covered by being licensed.

As a former IKO Examiner teaching more than 200 instructors worldwide over dozens of ITC's, I can tell you, the course you are about to do contains practical assessments involving the use of a boat. In NSW, without the license, you cannot legally operate the boat and therefore will not be certified competent unless you can do this part of the course. I wouldn't think the competency certificate will cut it as you have to drive the boat! Whether IKO deem it necessary or not, to operate the boat legally, you need the ticket.

The KA system is currently about to be rolled out nationally so you are going to need to get the license anyways. Just go and do the license, it's part of your new professions necessities, just like the first aid cert.

DM

Hi guys,

Thanks for pointing out recent the change of IKO rules. On the IKO website they don't mention anything about boat certificate so maybe the kiteasia and such are using old information. Anyway, I'll double check with the school where I'll do the course.

ActionSportsWA said..
Hi Guys,

IKO may or may not need the license, but KA and BKSA do. This will all come down to a few things.

Duty of care: You have a duty to your customers to be suitably licensed to operate a vessel either as part of a lesson or a rescue. This could form a loop hole for an insurer to back out of a payment if an accident ocurred. To take it o the letter of the law. If you teach from a boat and carry the student out into the sea, you most likely need a coxwains certificate and a surveyed vessel. This is part of carrying "fare paying passengers" Technically it could be argued you are carrying passengers like this and theoretically land you in serious hot water if an accident happened..

So you might have to get a charter license then too . I think if the boat is used as a rescue vessel only then none of this is needed but that may depend on your specific insurance agreement.

Cauncy: Lots of red tape for sure. That's why I thought I'd try to keep this one (the boat thing) to a minimum, as there's already a zillion other steps and paperwork to fill in and I don't know if I'll ever work for a school that even owns a boat. Anyway, rules are rules so I'll have to go with whatever is needed. However it seems like the boat license thing is more of a local (i.e. national) rule, rather than an IKO one, so it seems mandatory in some countries and not in other.