i wear my IKO tshirt with pride

[kiwimike]

i stayed awake 4 nights phoning iko long distance on the hour every hour every hour. the secetary martine said every time fred was in a meeting and would return my call. he never did. we had 4 schools paying an annual fee. we were one of their largest customers and they could not care less. they only way they would contact me was after i put everything on kite forum. then their training manager david dorn called me. even then it was a token gesture to stop me posting on kiteforum.

The communication deficiency with IKO is well known.
While IKO will reply to emails regarding basic FAQ's, I am not sure that they are able to respond to anything less usual.
Even if the IKO gatekeepers have a method of pushing questions/requests/suggestions up the chain, there may be some kind of policy-making paralysis at upper levels.

I think very highly of the IKO program curriculum. It is outstanding.
My instructor evaluator in Miami was very good, and I surprisingly learned a lot.

While there are fundamental problems there are also solutions.
If IKO does not implement these solutions, they will 1. remain vulnerable; 2. Get publicity like this post.
Of course, IKO principals may just not care or be trying to sell their curriculum (which is valuable, but not irreproducible).

I am no expert, however, I have been through enough training to know the score.

USCG Approved Instructor/Examiner for mariners seeking USCG Commercial Captain's License
American Sailing Association Instructor
US Sailing Instructor
Red Cross First Aid/CPR Instructor
Traditional Tall Ship Crew Trainer
Marine Business Consultant
Program Coordinator at a non-profit
and......IKO Instructor

[TommyDelly]

think the yearly fee is 800usd to be an iko center. there were hundreds of schools paying a few years ago but now there are less than 80. infact they stopped listing them on their website because there are so few left. we were paying 550usd per year because we had 4 schools. we were one of their biggest customers but after some problems we all cancelled. it was as if they did not care. strange as the only thing they did well was sending out bills to collect money. surely they would care about 2200USD.

i started the kite safe association

http://www.kitesafeassociation.com/

you can print you own student rider cards and get your own insurance of this site all free of charge.

What kind of fees do you have to pay to IKO?

Also is there any other licence than IKO? I mean if you want to have your own kite school, do you have to be IKO certified or is there any other organization, where you can get your licence?

OK thanks!
What if i want to become just a kiteboard instructor (not to own my own school), do you have any other certification than IKO? Do you have KSA instructor license?

Anyway, if you are a freelance instructor, you just need a license and insurance right, or is there anything else? I mean how do you avoid paying fees to IKO and still have a legal business?

Thanks for you answers, im thinking of becoming an instructor, maybe even have my own school one day, but its just an idea, for now!

[nobby raish]

Just start your own governing body,then certify yourself...done

[consumer]

Have they not threatened to sue you for this post yet?

[Tiago1973]

think the yearly fee is 800usd to be an iko center. there were hundreds of schools paying a few years ago but now there are less than 80. infact they stopped listing them on their website because there are so few left. we were paying 550usd per year because we had 4 schools. we were one of their biggest customers but after some problems we all cancelled. it was as if they did not care. strange as the only thing they did well was sending out bills to collect money. surely they would care about 2200USD.

i started the kite safe association

http://www.kitesafeassociation.com/

you can print you own student rider cards and get your own insurance of this site all free of charge.

What kind of fees do you have to pay to IKO?

Also is there any other licence than IKO? I mean if you want to have your own kite school, do you have to be IKO certified or is there any other organization, where you can get your licence?

OK thanks!
What if i want to become just a kiteboard instructor (not to own my own school), do you have any other certification than IKO? Do you have KSA instructor license?

Anyway, if you are a freelance instructor, you just need a license and insurance right, or is there anything else? I mean how do you avoid paying fees to IKO and still have a legal business?

Thanks for you answers, im thinking of becoming an instructor, maybe even have my own school one day, but its just an idea, for now!

kite is a ISAF sailing class thus under the responsibility of your local sailing federation - contact them and ask those questions (if they have/not an answer is then a different matter)

[kiwimike]

ha, i should be sueing them for taking my money.

Have they not threatened to sue you for this post yet?

[longwhitecloud]

"kite is a ISAF sailing class thus under the responsibility of your local sailing federation"

[indosafe]

You said problems , what kind of problems kiwimike ?

[kiwimike]

You said problems , what kind of problems kiwimike ?

an exmanier came to my club to do in instructor course. he told a bunch of lies to iko to get me banned from running the courses. instead of talking to me they just cancelled future courses. he said i didnt have enought lifejackets, no rescue boats, bad location etc. i sent them photos of everything proving him to be a lier but they just refused to communicate with me. been trying to get my money back ever since.

[indosafe]

Yes i understand now , it s not the first time that i heard that a school complain about a IKO examiner .
This IKO examiners got too much power from IKO and they are out of control sometimes .
If IKO read this post , they should do something about the examiners training .
All the best kiwimike .