World Sailing Confronts Kiteboarding Conflict

Southampton, UK (April 12, 2016) – World Sailing does not recognise the recent statement by Fédération Française de Vol Libre (FFVL) concerning the purported division of kiteboarding events between the International Federation of Kitesports Organisations (IFKO) and World Sailing.

Kiteboarding on water is a discipline of sailing, and such falls under the jurisdiction of World Sailing, which is the International Federation for sailing in all of its forms recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Associations of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), and Sport Accord.

As part of World Sailing’s responsibilities, it seeks to protect the rights of Kiteboarding stakeholders by ensuring that events take place within the structure of the rules and are run to the appropriate standards for the benefit and protection of riders.

In 2016, World Sailing is overseeing the organisation of World Championships by the International Kiteboarding Association (IKA), worked with the World Kite Tour to facilitate their new World Tour, and sanctioned a number of stand-alone World Cup events in Europe. In particular, World Sailing is working closely with the major stakeholders in kiteboarding to ensure a successful governance model is implemented for 2017 onwards.

World Sailing continues to work with its French Member National Authority, Fédération Française de Voile (FFV), concerning the governance of kiteboarding in France.

Source: World Sailing