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Hi everyone,

it took me some time to find the right material (and I threw lots of it in the dustbin until I was satisfied with the make and durability) and learned how to do it, but I finally managed to come up with a universal LWR System DIY style.

You need the following items:

- Dacron lines (80 kg build), 15 Euros http://www.ebay.de/itm/Dacron-Polyester ... 257ec594f0

- Elastic rope, 2 Euros, http://www.ebay.de/itm/SCHWARZE-Gummile ... 2586de6d24

- Stainless steel ring 15mm or 20mm, 1 Euro http://www.amazon.de/Edelstahlring-AISI ... lstahlring

- Shrinking tube, 2,50 Euro, http://www.amazon.de/dp/B001CDOYUQ/ref= ... _M3T1_dp_1

- Depending if you are a perfectionist, a rope cover set, 4,50 Euro: https://www.flyoverdrive.de/shop/articl ... 0600810%26
Rope cover is used for the sling at the end of the LWR line.

- Alloy pipe (5-10mm depending on inner diameter of your floater) that fits inside your floater (big enough so, once you cut a ring of 1-2 cm and sanded all edges down, when you slide it into the top of the floater it stays inside there from the pressure of the foam. This is to avoid the floater get ripped apart (you will fix the LWR line beneath/inside the floater to the steering line) 1-2 Euros

Of course you need to add shipping, so we are at 50 Euros total.

If you have a kite that supports a LWR you are fine already now, otherwise you will need to have 3 attachements placed on the kite, for example by https://www.kitemania.de/5.0.html:
(see my other posts from the Naish Draft for Pictures) viewtopic.php?t=2384150&p=847494

1. Attachement Knot for LWR attachement/bungee (next to the outer strut/leadingedge end on the inside, 50cm behind the trailing edge
2. Sling/Loop next to the outer strut/leadingedge end on the inside, 5cm behind the trailing edge
3. Attachement Knot for LWR Knot, next to the 1st or second strut, 5cm behind the trailing edge

I would estimate the costs between 50-70 Euros (1-2 hours of work, 2-3 Euros material), so in total between 25 Euros (if you get everything locally) and 120 Euros (If you ship and need LWR attachements be done)

And here are the pictures of the LWR attachement/bangee and the LWR line.
You can use it with any bar.

Have fun! (Great for high aspect tube kites that are hard to relaunch on snow or in low wind or for beginners!)


On the pics you see the original Naish bangee, and my enhanced one (it stretches the same way as my elastic rope stretches easier, but is double), the sling on the end of the LWR and one of the little slings that allows the LWR line to stay parallel to the steering line.

To see how it looks and works, just check out this post:
viewtopic.php?f=174&t=2384150

Just cut the rope, use a lighter for the ends to melt it a bit and for the covering shrinking tube, the rest is just a few knots...

1. Create the LWR attachement/bangee (right length)
2. Create the LWR line (right length for your bar)
3. Attach both to your kite and attach the LWR line to the steering line, but the alloy ring inside the floater , pull LWR through floater and fix the LWR line to the steering line, then pull floater on it

Pics (I will post a few of the whole setup in action on a North Bar 2012 Quad Control Bar and a Naish Draft Kite soon)

I added the lines to the Draft with the North Bar now.
Works like a charme, I would say it is even better then the original Naish one, as it is lighter and also durable.

Important Notice:

The first knot in the LWR Line is 5-6 m away from the little ring it goes through at the kite, then it has a knot every 2-3 m and down at the bar it alo has no knots for about 4-5 m.
This is, so that the anlge of pull is as little as possible, to reduce wear.

I pulled the LWR line through the floater and then checked the exact length while flying the kite, tieing it to the line underneath the floater on that exact position with a sling tied to a knot-end off the steering line/rope/tails end.

As every kite (12/14/17) requires a bit of a difffent length of line due to its different width, I left some rope (1+m) inside the floater, I plan on making 3 slings, each sling exactly adjusted to one kite - fast and easy adjust --> take the floater off, choose the sling, fix it to the knot, job done)

So my conclusion: For little money (indeed you only need the rope, the elastic rope and the 2 rings --> less then 30 Euros) you can make 3 LWR systems, that work really well with any bar.

If you have a Naish kite that supports LWR attachements out of the box its effortless, if you need to get the attachements sewn to the kite in a workshop it is a bit more effort/cost.

To be honest I started relaunching my high aspect ratio kites only with the LWR now, great on snow, great in the water (waves...you are relaunching the kite so quickly from any position..) makes my life so much easier... great for beginners too!

Pics from the ring inside the floater, I decided to use alloy

Thank you very much for posting this! I've opted to go the same route but I've ordered dyneema instead of dacron. I'll also try to splice all loops. An alpine butterfly loop would be a quick alternative but I think splicing should be doable. I'll shoot some pics of the process.

I'll make the LWR line of equal length to my steering line and then make short LWR extensions for all kites I can use it on (Fly, Draft and Parks). After struggling for ages trying to relaunch my Draft this weekend (low wind) I can't wait to try this system out.

The 2014/15 Drafts relaunch fine in marginal conditions. Light wind relaunch is, of course, very subjective. They do not have the loop or knot on the leading edge for the LWR, however, they do have the grey knot on the tip of the first or second strut.
Your DIY LWR system looks really good. It really makes sense for those tough conditions.

@ damsko: Great idea - the mini extensions! Love it!

Alpine Butterfly? Never heard!
It would be great to have your pics posted!!! Always good to learn!
I wanted to splice everything first, but then saw that with a 1,7 mm Dacron line the results are so close, that I opted for the simple sling/knot solution - it still looks good. The rest is great with the shrinking tube. (For me, and I am a perfectionist usually.. I bought a few Naish LWRs, but must say that my DIY ones are actually more light and more durable. And they cost way less.

@ JAW: I still dont get it how the LWR does exactly work on the new 2015 Drafts with only the one knot on the strut?

Lars Madsen posted that he is using it already, and it works fine though.

But that would mean that the LWR line goes directly from the knot to the steering line!
I am not sure if that doesnt kill the steering line when used often? (maybe a little metal ring on the LWR Ring could reduce that?

And by the way: Did the bar pressure or lift/hangtime change on the new models?
Lars states that his new Draft 17m is way more stable than 2014 17m. And TheRussian stated taht he found only sizes up to 12m well developed.

I personally have no issues with the 14m and 17m of 2014, but I havent tried the 2015 Drafts yet!

This is how the lwr looks like on the new draft 17m

OK, got it!
Thats a really minimalistic solution. Not an improvement at all.
I think the old one was probably much more durable?

I would be afraid that if you constantly use the LWR, it damages your wing tip string (the string that holds the canopy and fronttubewing in the correct angle on the tip end)?

However, one could easily attach a metal ring (key ring?) to that string, where the LWR line goes through, that would deal with the wear.
And use the elastic rope on the end of the LWR (the elastic rope takes care of the LWR always being tight and parallel to the steering line).

I must say from that point of view I am really disapointed that Naish dont get their act together, really poor R&D work. I dont think it makes sense to let your customer have your products custom-modified, so they work well?
It should be an out of the box experience I guess?