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Kiteboarding Skills Assessment Test:

To obtain a kiteboarder certification card, you will have to undergo a live skills assessment with a Certified kiteboarding instructor. The test includes both theory and practical elements.
Procedure:
the Skills assessment usually takes between 1 and 2 hours.
The instructor will ask general questions to assess your level of knowledge, and also quiz you about your knowledge, including right of way rules, safety rules, weather knowledge, knowledge of wind effects, and you ability to assess the conditions.
Your instructor will ask you to assess the daily conditions including;
• making an estimation of the wind speed, using visual indicators.
• The instructor will ask you for the relative wind direction, and its significance.
• What is the tide condition and concerns.
Equipment Knowledge:
• What is the best size equipment to rig for the day?
Then you will be asked to rig your gear, and the instructor will assess how you rig,
• is the gear rigged correctly and safely,
• and are the settings correctly adjusted.
Instructor will ask you to describe your float and fly plan,
• choosing your launch spot, and landing spots, and backup emergency landing spot.
Launching and landing procedure:
• Instructor will ask you to describe how you intend to launch and self-land your kite, as well as your emergency landing procedures.
• You will have to describe “emergency stopping”, and proper “self-rescue” procedure.
Practical test:
• The instructor will ask you to self-launch (where appropriate) and ride in the test area, show good kite skills, and stay upwind, demonstrate good control, turns, jumps and of course strong upwind riding. Safe riding; the ability to navigate among other kiters and other users is a safe manner. Also riding is a safe controlled manner.
• Usually there is a time limit, and a limit on the number of crashes, depending on conditions one or 2 small crashes might be acceptable, but no major loss of control, like crashing into another water user, or severe loss of kite control.
• Student will also have to demonstrate an emergency landing using safety systems, and do a full self rescue. And return to the beach unaided.
Review and redo:
• Finally the instructor will review the knowledge with the student and if necessary recommend more Study, or More practice to get the desired level.
Certification:
• Once a successful test assessment has been passed, the instructor is permitted to Certify the student with the Kiteboarder Card.
• This includes registering them online with the certifying body.
• The student may have to also register online and confirm the test, to complete their registration.
Cost of the assessment:
There is usually no cost for the Kiteboarder Card itself, but the cost for this Skills Assessment is equal to the instructor’s normal hourly rates.

Click here for More Info about the IKO Kiteboarder Card

Click here for More Info about the IKO Skills List

Click here for More Info about the IKO Training Path

IKO Kiteboarding Organization

The International Kiteboarding Organization (I.K.O.) is the world’s largest kiteboarding community, with a worldwide organization of kiteboarding schools, instructors, and kiteboarders. The IKO provides support for Instructors, Students and kiteboarding communities. The IKO Kiteboarding programs are designed to help you learn in a safe way while your IKO Instructor respects your rhythm and takes you through all the steps so you can reach your goals. The IKO Certification standards and training are recognized in over 40 countries worldwide. There is a worldwide network of affiliated schools and instructors. Each one has made a commitment to quality and safety. Every IKO School and Instructor became certified through hard work, dedication, training courses, qualification criteria and safety standards. You can recognize IKO Schools and instructors and products from their distinctive logos and trademarks. IKO schools, only use Current IKO Certified Instructors, and teach according to the safety standards. IKO Schools display certificates, flags, and issue IKO Kiteboarder Cards to every student. Only schools that meet the high standards can become IKO Affiliated Kiteboarding Schools.

SCHOOLS: Learning how to kiteboard in an IKO Affiliated Center assures safe and fast learning using quality tested methods that maneuver you safely off the beach and into the water! IKO affiliated centers have specific liability insurance coverage and you also can subscribe to the Kiteboarder’s insurance in your center of choice, or click here for more information.

INSTRUCTORS: Instructors are competent kiteboarders who have undergone Instructor Training Courses and learned the IKO teaching methodology. Kiteboard instructor training is intense, and includes communication, safety, lesson planning, rescues, and people skills. An IKO Instructor also commits to undergo ongoing training to stay current. There are different levels of instructor from Assistant, Level 1, Level, 2, Level 2 Senior, etc.

STUDENTS: Students learn using the latest proven teaching techniques. the Student progresses through the IKO learning levels from Discovery, Intermediate until they “graduate” as Independent level kiteboarders. Students receive a structured lesson plan, that is easy to follow and can be tailored to the individual. Students can switch between instructors and schools with the standardized teaching system.

MEMBERS: Students can become an IKO member and get access to the IKO community website, news, maybe win a kite, get discounts on gear, and automatically receive one year’s kite rider liability/injury insurance for all your kiting activities. Membership is open to all kiteboarding students with their IKO kiteboarder Cert Card.

LEVELS: Listed below are the IKO Kiteboarder levels. These are a series of skills and tasks in the ideal sequence. The Skills chart allows students to gauge their progress and plan their training. They also help identify a student’s skill level, when transferring between schools, or when proving their level of competency. Every IKO Instructor gives the student a level at the end of every session. Every Student should receive their level listed on their Kiteboarder Card at the end of their training. The Skill Chart is also available on the IKO’s website, and in the IKO kiteboarder handbook, and Workbooks.

EDUCATION: IKO has an online education system that offers many courses to improve your knowledge in kiteboarding. Some courses are free to IKO members, and some courses can be taken for a fee. There are two Online education areas, one for the kiteboarding members, and one for the Pro-members (instructors). All levels of kiteboarder are encouraged to improve their knowledge, and continue their learning with the IKO’s Kiteboarder Online Education system.

PRODUCTS: IKO has a range of products to help kiteboarders, Instructional DVD’s and Kiteboarder Handbooks, and Manuals. The Progressions DVD Series is highly recommended. there are four levels; Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Professional.