Paris, 5th of December 2009

Minutes

In absence of the class Chairman, Executive Secretary Markus Schwendtner opened the meeting at 10:30.

Topic 1: Welcome and Apologies

Apologies from Christian Conrad and Katja Roose. Due to workload they were not able to attend the meeting and are resigning their seats on the Executive Committee.
Markus Schwendtner thanked them both for their work and commitment towards the development of the class.

16 votes were represented, including proxies, and the meeting was quorate.

Topic 2: Minutes of previous meeting

The minutes of the previous special AGM had been posted on the class website and were unanimously approved

Topic 3: Chairmans / Executive Secretaries report

Markus Schwendtner started his report with the situation between the class and the professional tour operators, KPWT and PKRA. Due to continued breach of the sanctioning agreement between KPWT and IKA, the agreement had to be terminated on October 7th, and no further KPWT events were counted for the rankings.
The cooperation with the PKRA is working very well, several working parties (judging, rules) have been founded and make very good progress.
In the meantime, KPWT has started a new “International Kiteboard Federation”. This organization is in clear conflict with IKA and ISAF, and IKA will request ISAF to impose regulation 19 (loss of starting eligibility) on any competitors taking part in IKF/KPWT events or events of their affiliates. All parties involved (industry, media, sponsors, national associations) need to be informed.

The Executive Secretary then gave an overview of the daily work process of his office; 4-5 hours per day are the minimum necessary to facilitate IKA business.

The point system for the discipline and overall world rankings has been amended. It is now based on a clear and transparent structure to ensure the rankings are as fair as possible. Further small amendments may be necessary as a result of the AGM decisions.(see separate topic)

Several submissions were made to ISAF this year, with the main objective to bring the term ‘kiteboarding’ into relevant ISAF regulations. Submissions were made to transform the “Windsurfing Committee” to “Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Committee”, also submissions have been made to include kiteboarding in all regulations regarding requirements for world championships, class status etc. A new regulation has been introduced to regulate advertising on the kiteboards (event stickers etc). All submissions have been approved by ISAF council

ISAF regulation 26 deals with requirements to become an ISAF class and includes the need for a “class agreement”. Main part of this agreement is a financial commitment to ISAF; some amendments need to be made before this agreement can be signed.

We have, currently, 18 national association members of the IKA: France, Italy, Netherlands, Argentina, Belgium, Brasil, Spain, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Moldavia, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenija, Suisse, Ukraine and Mexico. Negotiations with another 13 national associations are close to being finalized; the expectation is 30 member nations at the end of 2010.