G'Day Sheppo,

To my knowledge there has never been an IKO instructor course run in Melbourne.

There are a couple of IKO instructors in Melbourne but there is a huge need for more properly trained instructors in and around Melbourne.

I would be interested in running an IKO instructors training course if you can find a school or interested parties who would be able to host such an event.

We need a school with kites, boards, safety equipment and a boat, a training classroom of some kind and some people to practice on on the last two days. We need a minimum of 5 and maximum of 8 instructor candidates to run a course.

Otherwise, there are courses coming up in Cairns, Townsville and Sydney in July, August and October. See the IKO website at www.ikorg.com

Let me know if I can help you out.

Best winds,

Darren Marshall
IKO Examiner

Never been an IKO instructors course in Mebourne!

I wonder what that course we did in melbourne around OCT 2000 was then

and strangely enough they called it an "IKO instructors course"

Cory Adcook was the examiner, Beck Nicholson was accredited as an examiner.

A shining example here of the service from IKO in australia.

So that course qualified
Ivan and 3 others from SHQ
Tony Lorenz, bendigo,vic
Andy from Hobart
Goshin from Kitepower, Geelong
Christian Longreef, sydney

for those I've missed I apologise.

Dave, as far as your hopes and dreams go, go for it.
but you will also need to be a windsurfing instructor as many resorts want dual qualifications, and most schools and resorts greatly over estimate all numbers. I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm but do your homework.

best winds
Tony Lorenz

Hey RAL INN,

Apologies to RAL INN. Sorry you misinterpreted my post. You will notice I preceded the comment with "to my knowledge". I had long forgotten the course run in Oct 2000 and apologise for my absent memory at times.

With regard to gaining employment overseas, RAL INN seem to be a little out of touch as most of the instructors I have accredited that have wanted to travel, have found jobs teaching overseas and some have traveled the world non stop for the last couple of years, and few have windsurfing accreditation although I agree that it is a plus if you are dual certified or have surfing coaching skills as well. The IKO has well over 5 pages of jobs from all over the world in almost every continent on the planet. There is loads of work for suitably qualified instructors! (Level 2)

To make getting a job more easy, you need to have attained your level 2 IKO Diploma, this makes you highly desired and if you are bilingual you will get a job at almost any school depending upon your second language.

Kite insruction will not make you rich, but it will afford you to travel to warmer climates with better conditions, kite in exotic locations, meet and teach some cool people and earn your keep so it doesn't cost you. In Hawaii I earned enough to pay off my ticket, cover all my living expenses (and I partied) and bought a $5000 video camera and I had 4 great months living in Hawaii two years in a row.

As for more experience before you start teaching, I have certified guys who only just make the riding qualification and some make excellent instructors as the difficulties of learning are so fresh in their past that relating to learner problems is easier. The best kiters are not necesarily the best instructors and the best instructors are not necesarily the best kiters. ie. you don't need to be able to do mobes to teach water starts!

Most students only want coaching until they can stand on the board and ride a hundred metres, they generally choose to practice on their own from that point however some come back to learn how to ride upwind. You only need to be a good kiter if you are teaching advanced coaching clinics or advanced riding techniques and tricks.

Your sailing coaching will help you big time in kite instruction as coaching principals are the same whatever you are teaching, understanding wind and water will also help a lot.

Victoria really needs some additional IKO instructors as the 8 that were previously trained are probably not all still teaching regularly which means there is a large shortage of accredited instructors for the population down there.

Best to speak to a school and try and drum up some interest and then get back to me or if you reckon you are interested in hosting a course, and can supply the equipment get back to me for details on running a course.

To Uminaboy,

Best thing you can do is try and find an IKO Level 2 Instructor and grab an IKO Assistant Instructors kit and start helping out, you will probably find that the work will be unpaid or only worth a few bucks, but the experience will be essential and is a prerequisite to doing the course. Once you turn 18 you can then enroll into a course and get the qualification as IKO Level 1 Instructor, then you are on your way.

best winds to all,

Darren Marshall
IKO Examiner

*whould not what lol

so do you think it would be worth me learning french or something?. im really keen to make a living out of being an instructor hey. What else do you recomend? Im currently doing a tafe course in tourism will that help?

ok thanks for that