My question is:
Is any Kitesurfing school able to hand you out the IKO kiteboarding card after you done a beginners course? or do they have to be specialized?
Thanks Maz

cbulota said..
IKO affiliated schools should always have cards and are only allowed to hire IKO instructors. IKO schools should automatically give you that card at the end of the course.

Even if the school isn't affiliated with IKO, the instructor might still be IKO certified and have his own cards, so you can request it directly from your instructor.

The IKO is using the card system as a way to encourage instructors to ''log'' their students, for which they have to pay! It's essentially another way for the IKO to make money, and the cards aren't cheap either...

I've had many students over the last few years handing me an IKO card stating that they were ''ready for the board'' and they couldn't do half of the basic skills that were ticked off by the instructor himself! That card is a joke.

thanks for your answer ;),
I just had my 3.lesson ;)
I did some research of where and who with, so that's when I heard about the IKO card the first time... I read that you apparently need it to hire gear (eg in different state or country) but then I thought its bizarre that you get the card but there is not a test at the end of your course (like when you do your skipper ticket or so)...and when I approached the owner of the school his reply was " I can have it" so I wasn't sure if he was just saying it so I take the course with him or not...

Now I can appreciate why so many instructors here in Aus are not IKO certified, and actually snub at IKO altogether.

cbulota said..
The whole IKO system is flawed and over-hyped. There is no quality control whatsoever so the schools essentially do what they want. As long as the school pays their yearly fees to the IKO and don't get some major complaints, it just keeps running the way the school wants it to run.

I could be wrong but I don't think there are any places you wouldn't be able to hire gear in OZ without an IKO card. Maybe some places in Europe they may ask for it, but even then...

If the IKO controlled the quality of the schools and lessons (as they should) the card would actually have some real value and they would be taken more seriously. As you said, no test is needed to get the card so they are definitely not a guarantee of the quality of training you received nor an accurate assessment of your skills or knowledge.

Loftywinds said..
Now I can appreciate why so many instructors here in Aus are not IKO certified, and actually snub at IKO altogether.

Thanks guys ;)
so basically I don't need to worry about getting it or not? I just got confused as there is a course in Rocko where you receive the card at the end but this course is about 250$ more expensive... so I thought maybe it tells me that that one would be better... but I get on with my trainer so I m happy to keep going with him and he is Iko certified ;)

thanks a lot for your help ;)

Maz77,

This card will probably be completely useless and end up in your bottom drawer.

When you book a kiteboarding course you do it because you want to learn the ''right way'' and become a safe and independent kiter at the end of the course. You should worry more about what you are actually able to achieve rather than getting a card or going by what people write on their websites. At the end of the course, ask yourself the following questions:

-Am I comfortable going out kiting by myself in various locations including in deep waters?
-Can I recover my board easily after a crash using upwind body drag in deep waters (without standing up) ?
-Can I relaunch my kite in various scenarios in deep waters (without touching the bottom)
-Have I been asked to do and I am competent doing a practical deep water self-rescue all by myself (no assistance, not standing).
-Can I assess a location, choose safe winds, identify wind strength, directions, effects, choose the correct kite size?
-Can I setup a kite safely and launch and land safely with an assistant?
-In case I get in trouble on the beach or in shallow waters, am I competent recovering my own kite without assistance after deploying the safety system?

Amongst other skills, these are the basics that any competent instructor should cover in a course, regardless of the location where the lessons take place. Unfortunately too many instructors/schools fall short in a few or many of those aspects.

If you ever kite in the USA< there are alot of regulated launches that will demand proof of IKO Level 3 in order to ride or rent gear. South Florida is big on this. Ive seen schools hand it out to anyone and Ive seen schools really strict on it pushing their students to keep taking lessons/supervision until they were at truly indepedent (racking up lots of fees in the process). Ironically, I think I am more dangerous to others when working on an frontroll or backroll with a kiteloop at the end than I was when I was body dragging around the place under control. Whats more dangerous, someone trying to learn an F16 for the first time or a guy plowing through the water with kite in front? But whatever, there are alot of BS politics as to why IKO L3 is required.

If you can meet the requirements, just get the card and make your life easy the day you travel. I have friends who are far more advanced than I without the IKO L3 certification (b/c they didnt take the time) but they always run into the same problem - the day the wind is better at a regulated spot, all of the people capable of certifying are busy with lessons so they cant/wont take the time to certify as they are too busy. They never invest the one light day to simply get the certification so as to be able to hit those spots when the wind is good. Around here, some of those spots really are that much better with better launches, facilities, and conditions in addition to having exposure to different wind directions. Its annoying as I have to choose between social scene and better conditions (sometimes ILl roll one way, other times the opposite, depending on details).

CodeRed,

Back in the early days of coaching and mentoring supervision (70's) PE teachers teaching methods were being analyzed in an effort to improve their interventions. The problem is they were focusing only on what the teacher was doing and saying. This led to poor results, lots of arguing and the classic '' but I've been doing it like this for 10 years'' bla bla bla... Only once they realized they had to watch what the students were doing and how they were learning, did they start finding effective ways to improve the teacher's interventions.

It doesn't take much effort to measure the quality of lessons new students are getting. You simply have to watch what the student can and can't do without the instructor's help. Better yet, you ask the students to complete a survey at the end of their lesson package with the list of questions I mentioned above (what I am confident and competent doing by myself after lessons?). This doesn't cost much or any money for that matter! It would be a very simple yet a very efficient way for the schools and their instructors to self-improve their methods without even being told what do to or what not to do! The problem of course is at the early stages of this system, in many schools, the students would start to ask for their money back. And that's the fundamental problem in this industry, making money is far more important than giving quality lessons.

Here's the simple approach I use with my instructors, I watch what the students can or can't do and once or twice a season record an entire lesson on film and just give the footage to the instructor. I don't need to say much, the instructor comes out with about 90% of the feed-back I was going to give him.

Sometimes solutions are just too simple, aren't they?


Christian