Toby wrote:ozchrisb wrote:No go. There's some weird issue with ISAF in France that nobody seems to be able to figure out.
anyone knows more?
In France, two national federations are fighting for kitesurfing and this fight became more intense in the last years because of enhanced visibility of the sport, that includes a possible entry into the Olympics.
The FFVL, the federation of paragliders, parachutists etc. did a nice job in the last decade to develop the institutional framework of kiting, including the organization of national and international competitions. I think that visionary FFVL decisions that allowed kitefoils to compete in the French Championships largely contributed to the current world-wide revolution in performance foiling. We should thank the FFVL guys like Olivier Mouragues for this development, that finally led to emergence of Taaroa, Spotz, Zeeko, Radical and other French foil companies.
This year the FFV, the sailing federation raised the stakes, by using the new rules of its parent organization ISAF to block FFVL to organize international competitions. By letting the situation rot, they hope that finally the French state will force the FFVL to handle over kitesurfing.
Most non-professional French kiters do not care, those who have an opinion usually feel more comfortable with the FFVL, who seems to better understand the specificities of our young and dynamically developing sport than the more conservative and elitist FFV.