A Milestone in Kitesports Safety: ISO Standard 21853 on Quick-Release Systems

Friday 9th April
Location: Hamburg
Words: Kate Chandler

A New Milestone in Kitesports Safety: ISO Standard 21853 on Quick-Release Systems

The Global Kitesports Association (GKA) has achieved a milestone in kiteboarding safety!

Since 2014, the GKA and its members have been working tirelessly with the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) along with an international team of engineers and experts to bring this industry-wide, internationally valid safety standardisation classification for quick-release systems on kite bars.

 The ISO standard 21853

• applies in all countries worldwide
• overrules all national norms for quick-release systems in kitesports like the French norm AFNOR
• sets the standard for maximum release force (equal to or less than 170N) and opening time (equal to or less than 2 seconds) of quick-release systems under different standardized conditions like
  • water with and without sand
  • dry and clean conditions
  • dry sand
  • cold and wet conditions
• includes the safety leash release system that belongs to the respective kite control bar
• sets the international standard on how to test release forces through
  • standardized testing units
  • standardized testing procedures
• sets the standard on many more important safety relevant parts of QR systems like
  • percentage of signal color
  • strength of material
• for quick-release systems on kite bars is tested at two independent, certified testing facilities worldwide:
  • Fraunhofer Institute in Rostock/Germany
  • Camosun Institute in Victoria/Canada
  • Those two institutes are qualified to issue an official certificate stating the conformity of a product with the ISO standard 21853.

Embossing the number ISO 21853 on a part of the QR system is a mandatory requirement of the standard. However, because products have already been manufactured for 2020 and brands were not allowed to put this number on the QR system prior to the effective date of the standard, February 14^th 2020, they are not able to call their QR system ISO 21853 certified, even if the QR system fulfils all technical requirements (QR systems opens at the required maximum release force in the obligatory maximum amount of time). Brands who hand in an official, independent technical approval stating that all requirements of ISO 21853 are fulfilled except the embossed number will be listed on the GKA website and are allowed to label their products with the official Global Kitesports Association ISO label. We ask interested brands to contact the GKA directly.