An emotional title yes, but keen to get views here.

In the past 12 months, I've had two people at work come to me and say "whats a great place to go to learn to kitesurf?". This is what happened:

(1) Girl from work who told me she had had a few lessons, had got up riding a couple of times. Rodrigues looks good I tell her, flat water, reliable wind etc. So she goes there, first day on some North equipment, and the school in their wisdom had decided it was a good idea to leave the microhook on the bar. What happens ? She accidently hooks in to the microhook, can't work out why she can't depower, crashes and gets dragged through the water, runs out of breath, finally gets out but now never wants to kite again.

(2) Guy from work (and this is in the last two weeks, so maybe somebody will know this incident). Asks where to go - I say Fuerteventura looks good, right time of year, lots of wind, good school etc. He tells me that he can get up and ride but can't go upwind, can't turn. So he goes there and books an intermediate course. First day, instructor tells him that everybody in the class has to wear a leash. He says, no way, I heard they were really dangerous. He gets told no leash, no lesson. He goes out and the wind is patchy in the lagoon. He is sitting there with the kite at 12, stationary, waiting. Clearly not smart, but he doesn't know better. Kite hindenburgs, lands straight downwind, launches hot and hauls him through the water. Board pings on leash and slices open his inner thigh. Over 20 stitches, muscle hangling out, hospital and wheelchair. Holiday over. Tells me he never wants to kitesurf again.

What's wrong here ? Two out of two people from work have had horrid experiences that have put them off the sport for life. And in both cases, I don't get what the school was thinking.

Is this acceptable ? Our beautiful sport is scaring people away - when these guys are paying good money to be looked after and (within the limits we all know) be kept safe. What do I tell the next person at work who says "what a cool sport, how can I learn?".

The second one is really irritating, I don´t blame the guy for wanting to bail, especially after he told them he didn´t want to use a leash... Poor guy.

he's no softy either - hard core guy, 25 years old, just scratching his head and saying if this is what the sport involves, no interest...and by the way, school dropped him off outside hospital and didn't call him for two days.

Not good.

That's nasty!! I once took a class where the instructor was drinking beer mid day starts me off with a 13m waroo I purchased from him ON LAND doing scuds and jumps (jumps were me) he was lucky I kited for a long time on land but he didn't know this. He then had me get in the water with 4ft swells and an undersized board (133cm), I was 200lbs at the time I did have a life jacket but he never even got into the water. I learned more from local kiters than I ever did from that class...

thanks for bringing up this topic.

It is true, these things happen and yes, the instructors are to blame!

In France they need to STUDY 2 years to become an instructor. Not sure if these things happen there as well, but I imagine it will be much less.

The whole system of just money being the most important has to change...the safety of our sport has to be top priority.

If IKO wants to be #1 of quality instructors, they should act and kick out careless instructors and go against those who use their name and never got an instructors license.

It always makes me angry reading stories like this...how can people be so ignorant and endanger their students. It is just unbelievable and shame on those wannabe instructors!

I guess this adds to the to-do list before getting lessons...CHECK YOUR SCHOOL.

Any triggering of the doubt / hesitation on your part..seek lessons somewhere else.

Stuff like this happens in every sport. You have to set your limits. I have a friend who wanted take scuba (certified PADI) lessons for her PADI. After the first dive she was told to get back in the water. She told the instructor that had almost no air left (she could not change tanks because he earlier had thrown an air tank over board in a rage fit....)..he insisted...well after a few minutes, at about 30 feet, she ran out of air...and all that comes with that...

They were out to sea with this guy and felt threatened to do as he said.

My point is that she should have told him NO, my tank is at 1200 psi, I am not going back in.

Your friend should have said, hey about that leash thing...if you want my money, I am not wearing a leash.

I know this is pretty hard for a beginner, but we are all responsible to get educated even before the lesson. the quality of schools will vary, of course this is not an excuse for the schools...it is just that we need to recommend reputable schools and instructors...

We all know that that is not really what IKO wants.......they want every kiters and instructors money.

There's been a a few , long, topics on the IKO matter here on KF.... people asked good questions, but the IKO figured...better not respond...don't really have a good reponse........let topic die.......continue pyramid money scam........

This is indeed an interesting topic. One thing I always tell people when they ask me about getting into the sport, is that you often get what you pay for. Often, people want to go with the cheapest lessons they can find. I'm not saying more expensive is better, I'm just saying investigate. There's a reason why a guy teaching on two-year old equipment and who doesn't even get in the water with you, but rather yells at you from the shore is cheaper than someone teaching you on the latest gear and following you with a Jetski. I always recommend that people go with a school or an instructor that I know personally. I recognize that that's not always possible, but it is important to stress to people that they really ought to investigate their school and instructors thoroughly before committing to a lesson plan.

regarding France, Toby is partially right. Yes it takes about 2 years to get the professional degree to teach kite, but that do not prevent these problem from happening. I got several times people coming to rent gear, saying they learned in xxx school. when given a kite, they did not even know how to rig it. That school was actually getting therm to ride asap, and then trying to sale gear, offering additional lessons with the gear!!!

With regards to the IKO, I finally gave up. The poor standard of most of the instructor, the lack of control from the IKO and the increasing level of money requested to maintain affiliation becoming ridiculous.

I have now been teaching for 7 years, and decided last year to form my instructors to work to my standard. it cost me much more money than to next door schools, but at least I can look at my self in the mirror every morning without thinking that I am a crook.
we take much longer time to teach a student, for the same amount of money. unfortunately for us students still prefer to go to the school that get them to ride in 2 days rather than to a school that teaches them to ride and the weather and the rescue and and and... in 5 days
too many schools are a support for a shop and their goal is to sale gear rather than teaching and unfortunately that will not change soon.

jurihc: good point. We have to make people aware, that qualified lessons will costs some more money. People shouldn't be cheap on health. And with better gear and more direct contact to the instructor, you should learn faster anyway.

I think giving licenses to school should also be more critical. That placed on Fuerteventura is just a nightmare, way to dangerous. Even I stopped kiting there, because I didn't want to get hurt. I rather made pictures of kitebeaches on the island then go kiting there!

The system is wrong, we need changes.

BTW - the guy with the board leash should give the IKO the instructor's name and name of school to complain. Only this way they can help.