PKRA News:

PKRA's Statement Regarding Unsuccessful IKA Agreement

Hello,

Based on the last response from the IKA and after consulting advice from our
legal council the PKRA has decided to decline any further involvement from
this mediation process. Therefore the PKRA will not be seeking IKA or ISAF
sanctioning for our events nor will the PKRA continue to seek Special Event
Status from ISAF. The PKRA's decision is based on the following reasons.

First, I would like to acknowledge the IKA's mission and applaud them for
their vision, however, from the beginning the IKA has taken a very strong
and firm approach towards the PKRA to align ourselves or succumb to
unidentified ultimatums. After understudying the IKA's origins and how the
organization evolved it became apparent to the PKRA that the IKA's mission
was not necessarily to unite our sport of kiteboarding but control it and
force their beliefs and structure upon everyone in the sport.

As the PKRA and IKA tried to come to a common agreement in January through
many conference calls and meetings those efforts were all but eroded by
comments overheard at the Dusseldorf meeting which brought to light the
IKA's long term plan of phasing out the professional tours. Furthermore,
the IKA's silence and delay tactics pushed the PKRA to seek Special Event
Status from ISAF only to have the IKA emerge from it's silence and try to
point blame at the PKRA for a failed alignment. Even during the mediation
process the IKA was not willing to ensure the future of the PKRA as part of
the IKA by agreeing to a longer term contract. If a 10 year contract is
seen as excessive than we feel a one year contract is the same given how we
have arrived to this point in time.

An important point to the PKRA, and what has made the PKRA tour so
successful, is that the athletes have a chance to share their opinions and
have a vote on the rules, format and judging criteria of the different
disciplines that make up the tour. It's true, that the freestyle rules of
the IKA share close similarities to that of ours, however, the same does not
hold true to wave and racing disciplines. As we have stated previously the
rules that are presented need to have appropriate time for the athletes to
review, comment and approve them for 2009.

Most recently the IKA has made announcements which only continue to
undermine what was discussed in January. Those include the new virtual
ranking system which ignores our discussion on how the points were to be
calculated based on the amount of prize money for each event and discipline.
Currently the top 13 athletes are from the KPWT even though, it's
undisputed, the PKRA has more events and prize money in addition the PKRA
athletes are recognized as the best kiteboarders in the world.

Furthermore, the announcement of the St. Francis Yacht Club hosting the 2009
Course Racing World Championship is in direct contradiction to our previous
discussions, but most importantly, to the professional tours efforts (KPWT &
PKRA) to create a series of professional events that lead up to a world
title ranking and final event. The St Francis event is not only a one off
event but also carries no prize money. How can the KPWT or the PKRA expect
to have their event organizers offer prize money for events which hold no
value towards a world championship title? This type of action will kill
professional racing and undermine our relationship with event organizers.

In closing, the PKRA has spent countless hours and thousands of dollars
trying to reach an agreement with the IKA by flying to Dusseldorf to attend
the IKA's first meeting, hiring attorney's to draft agreements, review
sanctioning agreements and to give the PKRA legal advice during this
mediation process. Unfortunately, I cannot look across the mediation table
and see the same effort put forth by the IKA.

To comment on the statements by the IKA regarding our use of the term
"World" from this point forward, our legal council has concluded that since
the PKRA is not a member of ISAF we are not bound by ISAF's constitution or
statues. Therefore, the PKRA will continue to name our events, as it has
done over the past eight years, as part of the Kiteboarding World Tour.

If it was the IKA's intention to phase out the professional tours or to try
and financially cripple the professional tours into submission it is yet to
be seen if they will succeed with the KPWT. As far as the PKRA is concerned
we have come to a point where we have decided to step away and refocus on
our business of representing the professional athletes and to look out for
their best interests in the sport of professional kiteboarding.

I would like to personally thank Jason and ISAF in their time and efforts
spent to try and mediate the issues between the IKA and PKRA. It is
unfortunate that we were not able to come to a resolution, however, if the
policies or management of the IKA change over time the PKRA would consider
coming back to the table and working on something in the future as
equivalent partners. We wish the IKA the best of luck in their endeavors.

Regards,

Paul Caswell
PKRA - Managing Executive Board Member

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