VKWC News: Termination of contract between IKA and PKRA

[Toby]

IKA Update:

"The IKA is happy to announce that the International Sailing Federation today has confirmed that Fuerteventura will go ahead as part of the 2015 Freestyle World Championship Tour.
As per ISAF regulations, IKA is the sole owner of the Freestyle and Big Air World Titles and will run the event in Fuerteventura together with the local organizing team.
The judging panel will be Ian Sleuyter, Bas Koole , Eric Rienstra, Bruno Correia and Alex Tack plus one more pro judge TBC. There will be strict regulations to prevent conflict of interest when judging mens and womens heats.
Head Judge will be Leonard Rose.
Olaf van Tol will be the contest director and we are happy to announce that we got Toby Bromwich back in as our core photographer. Alexander James Lewis Hughes will join him on the media side.
The judging team together with IKA intends to make several improvements to the judging system.
The core message is to give the sport back to the riders and get all stakeholders together to grow this fantastic sport.
See you all in Fuerteventura for a great event !"

[Toby]

I just talked to Markus Schwendtner and ask about the money IKA makes.

The sanctioning fee is 5% of the prize money, so e.g. 50.000 USD = 2500 USD.

How many events are there per year?

He said last year IKA had about 40.000 USD in their budget (exact numbers are known by your national association). They have costs to run the IKA, plus travelling costs for several people for ISAF and IOC meetings etc.

So, it is not a lot of money we are talking about. If you meet Markus or someone from IKA somewhere, just talk to them personally and get exact info. They have no problem to share it.

I also heard, that another reason for canceling the contract was, that riders and judges didn't get paid for events like Dahkla, Venezuela and Italy from last year.

Riders have no power to speak up, because they depend on the tour...but this is really bad for the riders and judges, since they really don't make much money.
PKRA/VKWV is a business, not a non profit. If the organizers of an event don't pay, it is not the problem of riders and judges, but of the business, in this case the tour. They HAVE to pay! The riders should not loose their hard earned money, it is not their risk!

I asked about IKA, if they pay the prize money directly, and they do on all events, except Italy, where the law prohibits it, so they have to wire the money.

For sure with IKA the riders will get their money.

And I hope PKRA/VKWC makes sure the riders will get their outstanding money!

[alamos_kiter]

I just talked to Markus Schwendtner and ask about the money IKA makes.

The sanctioning fee is 5% of the prize money, so e.g. 50.000 USD = 2500 USD.

How many events are there per year?

He said last year IKA had about 40.000 USD in their budget (exact numbers are known by your national association). They have costs to run the IKA, plus travelling costs for several people for ISAF and IOC meetings etc.

So, it is not a lot of money we are talking about. If you meet Markus or someone from IKA somewhere, just talk to them personally and get exact info. They have no problem to share it.

I also heard, that another reason for canceling the contract was, that riders and judges didn't get paid for events like Dahkla, Venezuela and Italy from last year.

Riders have no power to speak up, because they depend on the tour...but this is really bad for the riders and judges, since they really don't make much money.
PKRA/VKWV is a business, not a non profit. If the organizers of an event don't pay, it is not the problem of riders and judges, but of the business, in this case the tour. They HAVE to pay! The riders should not loose their hard earned money, it is not their risk!

I asked about IKA, if they pay the prize money directly, and they do on all events, except Italy, where the law prohibits it, so they have to wire the money.

For sure with IKA the riders will get their money.

And I hope PKRA/VKWC makes sure the riders will get their outstanding money!

This is hilarious.

1. IKA is a business like any other. "Not for profit" does not mean "No profit". Just look it up. Only difference is the tax side.
2. If riders and judges signed contracts which don't get paid, sue the contractor. It's business.
3. Riders not making much money out of their riding simply means they are amateurs. Nothing wrong with that. I know a lot of people who ride, play soccer or ping pong without making money out of it.
4. "For sure with IKA the riders will get their money"... So IKA grants the payments besides the promoter of the event? I thought IKA was in the boat in Dhakla, Venezuela and Italy? Crock of shit. That would be easy then! Sue IKA for the due payments of Dhakla, Venezuela and Italy, if there are due payments.

IKA is the personal ego project of this Markus Schwendtner guy, who saw his chance to butt in when speed kite surfers outran his pole dancers on the speed track in Namibia and had no representation. In search of fame through a participation in the Olympics. He hasn't got any more to do with kiting than Sepp Blatter.

[Toby]

IKA didn't get the money to pay to riders at PKRA events.

Be real, a rider sues PKRA? Now that's hilarious!
The costs are very high (sue in the US I think, you know how much lawyers costs there?)
If you sue, be sure you will be out of PKRA...or never win anything...

[alamos_kiter]

IKA didn't get the money to pay to riders at PKRA events.

Be real, a rider sues PKRA? Now that's hilarious!
The costs are very high (sue in the US I think, you know how much lawyers costs there?)
If you sue, be sure you will be out of PKRA...or never win anything...

So how does "IKA didn't get the money to pay to riders at PKRA events" (and therefore didn't pay the riders) combine with "For sure with IKA the riders will get their money"?

If what you say is true, and PKRA can be in breach of contract without anybody involved having a means to do anything about it, more so, if a rider suing PKRA ".. will be out of PKRA or ... never win anything...", you are just stating that the whole tour, and all of the organizing parties involved, thus IKA, PKRA, is thoroughly corrupt.

[Toby]

I am stating facts.
Because I know directly from people involved. You too?

IKA does not owe any rider money. PKRA owes money to riders. IKA has nothing to do with the prize money of PKRA events.

PKRA/VKWC events:
Organizer -> PKRA -> Rider

IKA events:
Organizer -> IKA -> Rider

Corrupt? Wrong word used in this case.

[alamos_kiter]

I am stating facts.
Because I know directly from people involved. You too?

No. I was just referring to what you said. I might have misunderstood your statement.

IKA does not owe any rider money. PKRA owes money to riders. IKA has nothing to do with the prize money of PKRA events.

Does IKA guarantee the prize money on IKA events then, or is it just coincidence that the organizers had enough cash on the IKA events? Because on the budgets you stated (40.000US$/year), IKA can't guarantee prize money if their organizer fails - they don't have enough cash.

PKRA/VKWC events:
Organizer -> PKRA -> Rider

IKA events:
Organizer -> IKA -> Rider

The million $ question is: who guarantees the payments. Organizer? IKA? Both?

Corrupt? Wrong word used in this case.

If what you state is true, it certainly is corruption. Corruption is the illegitimate use of bestowed power to benefit a private interest. If PKRA is bestowed (by ISAF, IKA) to run a championship under the ISAF umbrella, and uses their position to turn down legitimate financial claims by influencing the judges of the championship, then this is corruption.

And with this said,

I am stating facts.
Because I know directly from people involved. You too?

you suggest that you have first hand knowledge that the whole thing is corrupt.

[kitesurfrabbi]

i had posted this in anther forum already and i truely belive it:

what kiteboarding is missing is a charakter like terje haakonson in snowboarding was. an exceptional rider, who dominated the contest scene in his active days and then created a tour that pisses about the "organisations" who were after "bringing the sport to a wider audiance" or "the olympics". his "ticket to ride tour" is the most prestigious tour in snowboarding. a title there is worth more the an olympic title or a world championship title, because the organisers behind that tour are breething snowboarding sinze they were kids...

when snowboarders were taken over by the FIS there was a big uprising within the snowboard scene and anti FIS stickers are still to be found on chairlifts, cars and decks.

in comparison us kiteboarders just completely lack any intergrety. neither didn't we give a shit when the sailors (IKA->ISAF) were taking over our sport as the governing sportive organisation, nor do we give a shit when big investors with clear company driven motivations take over our world tour (BEST kiteboardiing). proriders are just: "wtf... dude, check my instagram!" us recreational riders are just, "wtf. i'm not interested in competitions".

this lack of global commeraderie with similar mindsets and visions about our sport will kill this sport in the long run.

actually we don't need to give any shit at all anymore whether two big organisations are swinging their dicks around and burn masses of cash in court debating on who is the "governing body". we already lost some years ago, when ISAF and IKA took over the global "organisation" of our sport. with the managment buy out of the PKRA last year through the owners of BEST it just added a really weird twist to the whole competition riding in general.

we need to step up and throw out all those dicks out of our sport! now!

but i doubt its going to happen anytime soon anyway. our generation is lost in general. we are too busy consuming and not figureing out that we are being manipulated and milked. and kiteboarding as a sport makes no exception here....

rant over! i'm out, gotta check my facbook profle

[kitesurfrabbi]

i am also tired of hearing stories about the shitloads of money the the investors of BEST are pumping into the sport.
yes BEST spoiled a few riders in the first year when they hired them from other companies, but then?

obviously they don't pay their riders or at least very late, same goes for mags and obviously same goes for competition winners...
and its not hear-say, these stories come from people that directly are dealing with this company.

if they are so filthy rich and care so much about kiteboarding, why do we hear these stories and why isn't this whole event thing televised like an americas cup or a downhill ski race?

[Toby]

kitesurfrabbi: I am thinking so much about events, what works, what nots, trying things myself with small events etc.
Found soemthing very cool...just give me money and I will create you an awesome event...something the sport has not seen before
That format should have been done by Virgin...

Maybe one day someone will do it


alamos: as stated above, this is how money flows. If organizer does not pay, PKRA does not get it, then riders don't get it. But, it should not be the rider's risk, it should be the business risks.

Not sure how they work, but looks like IKA so far does a better job in securing the prize money. PKRA should ask them how they do it.