| Ian Young is the pioneer of kite surfing in Australia, bringing the first commercial system, Cory Roeseler's Kiteski© into the country in 1997 - before inflatable kites were available. After teaching himself through trial and error, he then started teaching others and established Australia's first kite surfing school in 1998. Ian helped found the Australian Kite Surfing Association in 1999. Although based in Perth, he has been professionally teaching kite surfing throughout Australia since 1998, was one of the first IKO Instructors and has taught overseas including Japan, Indonesia, East Timor, USA and Europe. Since the very early days Ian has been involved with competitions both as a rider and an official including: - 1999: 2nd in Australia's first ever kite surfing competition behind Kane Hartill of NZ (Adelaide)
- 2000: 2nd - International Kiteboard & Buggy Assault Masters (Port Stephens)
- 2000: 2nd - Australian Kite Surf Challenge (Adelaide)
- 2002: 2nd - Australian National Championships Masters (Melbourne)
- 2002: 1st - Open Ledge to Lancelin Ocean Classic Marathon
- 2002: 2nd - Open Jurien Bay Island Sprint
- 2002: Set the Australian distance record with Graham Currie on 7th Dec 02 (120km Fremantle to Lancelin)
- 2002: 1st - Safety Bay Marathon
- 2003: 2nd - Esperance Waves Event
- 2003: 1st - Open Ledge to Lancelin Ocean Classic Marathon
- 2003: International Judge Kiteboard Pro World Tour (KPWT) in New Caledonia
- 2003: 1st - Geraldton Blast Marathon
- 2004: 1st - Open Ledge to Lancelin Ocean Classic Marathon
- 2004: Organizer Rottnest Classic
- 2004: Technical Director Gravity Games H2O (Perth)
- 2004: International Judge KPWT (New Caledonia)
- 2005: 4th - Australian National Kitesurfing Championships Masters (Geraldton)
- 2005: Technical Director Australian National Kitesurfing Championships
- 2005: Race Director KPWT (Italy, Turkey, Brazil, Gravity Games Perth, New Caledonia)
- 2006: Race Director KPWT (Italy, Turkey, Greece, Morocco, Portugal, France, New Caledonia)
- 2007: Kitesurfed Scarborough to Lancelin (112km) in 4hours 13 minutes. Maximum GPS recorded speed 46.2 km/hr
- 2007: Race Director KPWT (Italy, Turkey, Morocco, France, Portugal, Brazil)
- 2008: 1st - WA Kitesurfing Association Big Air
- 2013: 1st - Open Ledge to Lancelin Ocean Classic Kite Marathon
- 2014: 7-20 Nov Kitesurfed Scarborough to Exmouth (> 1300km), rasing more than $22,000 for SoldierOn.org.au
- 2015: 2nd - Open Racing @ kitestock
- 2018: 1st Grand Masters (Over 55's) Lancelin Ocean Classic Kitesurf marathon
- 2019: 3rd Masters (Over 45's) Lancelin Ocean Classic Kitesurf marathon
- 2022: 1st 10km, 3rd 40km Shark Bay Downwinder
- 2022: Masters (Over 35's) semi-finalist and winner of the "Frother Award" Margaret River Quobba Classic Wave Contest
Kite Surfing media exposure featuring Ian Young has gone to air or been published on many TV stations, videos, magazines and newspapers including all major Australian TV stations' evening news, Channel Nine's "Just Add Water", UK based TWI's "High Five", Alex Sanz video magazine, Action Asia magazine, The Western Australian, Panorama magazine, The West magazine, The Sunday Times, People magazine, Boarder magazine, FreeSail magazine, Subaru Sports magazine, and KiteSurf Quarterly magazine. Ian was born in 1960 in Albury NSW. Ian served in the Australian Army for 22 years, primarily in Special Forces and travelled extensively throughout Australia and overseas including operational tours in Somalia and the Persian Gulf. He has worked as a consultant, was the UN Deputy Chief of Security in East Timor in 1999 and for many other organizations in places such as Iraq, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan. Ian's other interests include sculpture, photography, hang gliding, paragliding, tow-in surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, road & MTB cycling, squash, four wheel driving, and bush-walking. |
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