…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
First of all, I am very glad no serious physical harm was done to my girl. Being the trooper that she is we continued and acted as if it was all part of the show. Really, who of the 2000+ people watching did we think we were fooling. Nonetheless…
…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
Physically she walked away with some not to be taken lightly bruises, a sprained ankle and a broken shoe. My butt was sensitive because I landed on it when the rope broke. Emotionally something changed, not just for my girl, but for me as well. I think it can be summed up in a better understanding on a emotional level of the dangers of (Japanese) rope bondage suspensions.
The mandatory logical knowledge of understanding the dangers of (Japanese) rope bondage was already there, but actually understanding and feeling the dangers in your gut makes you truly aware of what you are doing. This emotional growth in the subject of Japanese rope bondage can imvho only be reached through ups and downs, mainly downs, which can only be achieved through experience. So…
…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
This experience has brought us another step forward to an even better, emotional, gut-feeling, understanding of the dangers of (Japanese) rope bondage suspensions in general.
I’ve been doing (Japanese) rope bondage almost 20 years and (Japanese) rope bondage suspensions around 12 years. That’s quite a while, in that time things have gone wrong and those moments have been learning moments, emotional/gut-feeling learning moments, moments that create experience.
Trying to understand and study on why things went wrong are logical learning moment, creating knowledge and understanding of the human physique, creating knowledge and understanding of rope properties, creating knowledge and understanding of (Japanese) rope bondage in general.
In all my years things have never seriously or permanently gone wrong, in all those years I have never broken a rope, until now.
…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
Our shows fall in the category “don’t try this at home, we are trained professionals“. People that have seen some of my shows know that I play quite rough with my girl and my rope. During shows both are really put to test. Both need to be able to handle what I want, no consensus.
This means I have to be meticulous about the condition of my ropes (not to mention my girl!) and I am! The set of ropes I use for show suspensions lasts at most 6 months less if my show frequency is above average but never longer.
After a show especially the suspension rope set is checked for signs of wear and tear, by the slightest sign of wear I will cut that rope in half and throw it out.
My opinion that I lasted this long before something went seriously wrong is because of my ridiculously safe approach to bondage. Still…
…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
I have had some time to think about what actually happened, study the broken rope, talk with knowledgeable people and to make a long story short, during this particular show I use a lever construction where I apply a great deal of force on the main suspension rope to lift my girl way up in the air. This results in a sawing action between the running end of my rope and the standing part attached to the upper-body bondage. This sawing action most likely sawed through (part of) one strand and the applied force resulted in a complete break of my main suspension rope.
In kinbaku terms (people seem to like that): during this particular show I use a lever construction where I apply a great deal of force on the nawa zuri to lift my girl way up in a enchoku zuri. This results in a sawing action between the running end of my asanawa and the standing part attached to the ushiro gote shibari. This sawing action most likely sawed through (part of) one strand and the applied force resulted in a complete break of my nawa zuri.
The conclusion we have come up with sofar is that the rope was most likely to rough (too much tooth). This resulted in a heavy sawing action where a smoother rope would result on less sawing and more sliding of the rope.
All good and well, but…
…I broke a rope during a live show and dropped my girl…
and this something that I will make sure never happens again!
Luckily, in the crowd of 2000+ people, there we’re just ten photographers around to capture the moment 🙂 This is the best (questionable title) shot showing the broken rope, me on my ass and my girls fall… Not something to be proud of but a wise man once said a picture says more than a 1000 words. I hope the shock effect of this photo makes you and people in general realize that we deal with serious stuff here!
Rope break
The broken rope
Close-up of the broken rope
I am very happy that no serious harm has come to my girl, we bravely continued the show, pretended it was all part of it, as if someone would believe it :), she walked away with bruises a sprained ankle and a broken shoe. We both walked away with hurt ego’s 🙂
Looking back at the incidents I know of and/or heard of it was probably just a matter of time before something happened to me. If it hasn’t happend to _you_ yet it will. ALWAYS stay safe, know what you do and why you do it and don’t cross the border of your own skills without safe practice and experience.
(Japanese) Rope bondage suspension are not without danger! They should be used with the utmost caution and high level of knowledge and understanding of what you do.
Bob
I am fairly new to shibari and kinbaku and I haven’t yet attempted suspensions but I am already struggling with the tradeoffs between safety or traditional handling and feel when choosing which rope to use.
Maria B raises some very important considerations. Regardless of skill level, experience or level of caution, anyone practicing suspensions with natural fiber rope will be facing the risk of unexpected rope failure. It seems that most people in the Japanese rope bondage community, in their continuing use of jute and hemp, have decided that this risk is worth taking to be able to use traditional ties and cinches that will not hold properly using artificial fiber ropes.
Maria B mentions that only rope made with monofilament fibers running continuously from end to end can be considered without risk of failure. Does she, or anyone else reading this post, know of climbing or rigging rope that has those safety properties but which still would have acceptable feel, appearance and handling characteristics for those practicing the arts of kinbaku or shibari?
I found one specialty rappelling rope made by Sterling Rope that is 6mm and that has a beige color similar to natural rope, unlike the bright colors of most climbing and rescue ropes.
http://www.sterlingrope.com/product/4589..
The Sterling Rope website has excellent information on rope design and the company seems to be dedicated to making the safest ropes possible for the uses to which they are subjected. I am sure, if the product development team at Sterling thought it was worth pursuing, they could develop a rope that would be acceptable for Japanese rope bondage but which also would be tested and certified to be without risk of breakage if used properly. Of course, that’s unlikely with a company that primarily serves the rescue and climbing communities. But, unless an acceptable synthetic alternative can be found or developed, everyone involved with suspensions in shibari and kinbaku is at risk of great harm. Why don’t riggers consider using totally safe, synthetic rope for the critical load bearing sections of their suspensions? Would that really compromise the overall experience for rigger, model and audience?
I am disturbed by the rather cavalier attitude toward model injuries expressed by some replies to this post. Even if a model is willing to accept an injury and not blame the rigger, any rigger who claims to care about the well being of their model needs to seriously reconsider the use of natural fiber rope in suspensions. For all the trials and testing that we may do with natural rope to try to find a way to minimize risks of failure, natural rope can and will still fail unpredictably and catastrophically.
It is sobering that in the United States consent is not a defense against criminal prosecution for injury or death incurred in most bondage activities. Even if a model declines to press charges and decides to “be amazingly cool about it”, the person who inflicted the harm can still be prosecuted. Perhaps, in the UK and Europe, riggers can accept the risk of injury and death due to rope failure as being inevitable and look upon incidents as mistakes and learning opportunities. But, apart from subjecting people to unnecessary risk of great bodily harm and death, the continuing use of untested and unpredictable natural fiber rope is going to eventually lead to someone in the US doing some serious prison time. And such an incident is going to harm the already fragile partial acceptance that bondage-related activities have been able to achieve in the United States.
It worries me when I hear people say, I know I’m going to have an accident sooner or later.
In all the time I have been rock climbing and its many years, I have only ever heard of rope breaking once and I know literally hundreds of climbers and I am on many climbing forums. The reason this rope climbers rope broke is because it was left in a car boot with a spare battery and the battery acid got to it, destroying the inner filaments but leaving the rope looking sound.
The reason climbing and professional rigging rope doesn’t break when used correctly is because it has monofilament fibers where every single fiber used in the construction of the rope runs continuously from end to end.
Organic fiber ropes like the one used in this performance, have a finite fiber length and rely for their strength on the friction forces between adjacent fibers. Fundamentally, as soon as these fibers start to slide against each other (applying sudden force) the rope loses its structural integrity and the possibility of the rope tearing is high.
Jude and Hemp is deliberately twisted so that all the fibers are squeezed together, ensuring a constant pressure between fibers. The fibers are rough and this mechanism takes advantage of that roughness.
The problem is, as soon as the fibers start to move against each other, the integrity of the rope is compromised and it will ultimately fail at its weakest point.
Rope sold for climbers is put through rigorous tests. It tells you how many years you can store it for before it will perish and how many falls you can take on it before it should be disguarded.
I’m reading about far too many rope breaks during bondage suspension and this really is unacceptable.
Thank you for posting. I have much respect. sharing these details will undoubtedly help others. Id gladly let you suspend me
Cogs,
to give you a few quick answers (before I write my complete detailed explanantion):
1 – yes! (detail: It was Jute rope that broke, hemp is a little stronger than jute).
2 – This I will explain (with pictures) in detail later. In short, my main rope was attached to the upper body bondage, went through the supsension point, back trhough itself (where it connects to the upper body bondage). This is were the sawing action/break happened.
Hope this helps a bit until I find time to write the detailed version.
I express everyones sentiments in saying.. phew, glad everyone is mostly unharmed, but this doesnt do much to prevent this from happeneing again.
I have a couple of questions being a beginner with bondage, but much more experience in industrial fall protection, rock climbing, and rigging and hoisting from an industrial standpoint.
1 – Type of Rope used – Someone has said it looks like a sturdy hemp rope, and you said it was quite toothy. During the lift, you suspect that the sawing action of the rope cause a strand to break which compromised the integrity of the entire rope. I know the hemp rope is strong and can provide a great sensation for the bottom, as well as it being the traditional style rope used for your style of bondage. But, could this have been prevented by using a kernmantle style rope when the outter sheath protects the inner structural portion?
2 – Hoisting your partner in the air – This is where the details for me get fuzzy, but were you runnin your rope through a fixed ring as your pivot point fo rthe rope? Could this have been replaced by a 1 to 1 or even 3 to 1 pully system? Instead of causing friction on the rope, it would be the wheel of the single or multiple pulleys that would have prevented the sawing action of the rope?
Again I am new to all of this, but I would like to learn from the mistakes that happen! If the mistake happens once, it undoubtably will happen again, and next time the people involved may not be so lucky!
Thanks for any advise you may have!
Thank you Marc! I know I keep saying it, and it will happen, but as soon as I have some breath I will continue this post and provide detailed information. I need a secretary… and a PA…
Both as sexy and as my Dutch-Dame 🙂
Thanks for sharing this unlucky incident. It reminds us how cautious we have to be every moment. Bondage and especially suspensions should be seen as high risk activity. It demands skill, training and perfect equipment. This incident proves that even then it can go wrong. Glad to see no severe injuries or harm came to you or DD. We are looking forward to reading more on how this could have happened. We can all learn from your experience.
Marc and jesss – BeShibari
Thank you for this. As stated earlier, my sincere well wishes in the recovery for all involved.
Thank you very much for you comments Lochai, really appreciated!
Thank you very much for your honesty and frankness. As you have shown, it’s not a case of if this will happen but when it will happen.
I am very glad there were no catastrophic injuries and that your communication was good between the two of you.
I have personally watched novice tops do similar lifts with their bottoms because they watch more experienced players do the same WITHOUT the foresight of proper rope care as you engage in. I watch and cringe waiting for the inverted bottom to be dumped on their head and hope both that I am there to help in the aftermath as well as not there because I really don’t way to see it happen.
It is a learning experience when a novice talks about their mistakes and injurious actions but it is a real teachable moment and a true time to reflectI when someone such as yourself and level of knowledge steps forward and talked about (unfortunately) the envitable.
Thank you,
Lochai Stine
Thank you all for the comments and hints and tips, I will come back to this blog and write something in more detail about the actual mechanics of what I think went wrong. Just need to find some time to write and take pictures. Asap! 🙂
I have a technical question on the mechanics of the rope break.
You write
“This results in a sawing action between the running end of my rope and the standing part attached to the upperbody bondage. This sawing action most likely sawed through (part of) one strand and the applied force resulted in a complete break of my main suspension rope.”
The photos show four broken rope ends.
Was this a doubled suspension rope that was sawed through, and both halves of the folded rope failed at the same time in the same spot? Or does it seem that one rope sawed through and the other half snapped from the sudden extra load?
It would be interesting to apply the “BOB test” (Big Old Boy) to check the breaking strength of the remainder of the rope to see if it might be an unusually weak batch.
The “BOB test” is to have a couple of big guys stand on the rope and swing around like Tarzan. If the rig will support them, it will probably support a girl.
Of course, the BOB test is risky for the two “Big Old Boys.”
My partner [name removed by request] and a highly experienced female rope Top once tied me to an X-cross using WAY more rope than seemed necessary. I love being helplessly tied up. If I thought there was the slightest chance I could escape, I would have asked them to add more rope.
[name removed by request] drove me into my non-verbal snarling, growling, roaring “Beastie Boy” headspace with canes, whips, fisting and ball squeezing.
My normal consciousness is still present when Beastie is in control, but it is sort of “along for the ride,” desperately trying to hang on to the “off” switch if he ever loses it. So far, it has never been necessary to test this (theoretical) “fail-safe” feature.
Beastie thought something that might translate to “Hmm, some sort of strings on my arms.” He roared ferociously and shredded the nylon ropes like they were made of Silly String. He then slammed [name removed by request] against the wall and had his wicked way with her.
A couple of audience members came up to us afterward and said it was the hottest thing they had ever seen.
If there had not been lots of reliable eyewitnesses at the play party, I would not believe this story myself. Heck, I still don’t believe it.
Anyway, I thought the rope HAD to be defective. It is certainly impossible for me to tear it in my ordinary state of consciousness.
I gave the remainder of the rope the “BOB test.”
It passed with flying colors.
That “landing” photo by ErikPhoto.cu with the broken rope trailing above her and showing the moment of the ankle sprain is just unbelievable! Is there a video of this?
I have personally witnessed two hogtied women dropped from waist-high suspension bondage when the hoisting equipment failed. Both cases involved a highly experienced Top using high-quality “marine grade” hoisting gear. By incredibly fortunate pure blind luck, neither woman was seriously injured. They were both amazingly cool about it.
“I was hanging Halloween decorations and I fell off the ladder.”
“But it’s the middle of July.”
“I like to start early.”
I also know of another, similar case that did not end so amicably. The bottom, a professional bondage model, lost 4 teeth and had to have her jaw surgically rebuilt.
Her “Master,” wanted no part of the medical bills, or of a “slave” who was not physically able to blow him.
He left her to spend 2 years and $24,000 out of her own pocket, without any health insurance.
“So long baby doll. Let’s keep in touch.”
My compliments on getting this out there and taking responsibility. As LadyGold points out, Midori has taken a great deal of (admittedly deserved) flack over the suspended hogtie drop in Australia.
Still, one serious fuck-up out of thousands of performances on the high wire without a net is a risk that is, for all practical purposes, indistinguishable from zero.
I eat bigger risks than that with my breakfast cereal.
Your Humble Jester,
Philip the Foole
If you play rough sports, you get a few bruises.
– Ancient Kung Foole Proverb
The only reason I haven’t dropped anyone (or been dropped) is because it’s just not my time yet. Slip knots will. Quick releases will too. What we do is not safe – but it should be as safe as we can make it.
Having said that I’m tremendously surprised that the rope broke. It looks like hemp and although there are no official specifications for hemp it’s really sturdy stuff.
I don’t use a lever – not really sure how one would be used; but that does seem a logical stress point.
Thanks for sharing and being so responsible. We just had a discussion in our local group about Midori’s reaction when she also dropped her dorie. It was a poorly tied knot that did it, not an equipment failure.
LG
Houston, TX
Chapeau !!
snap nu meer van je show op 10 jarig bestaan showboot .
Vind het nu nog geweldiger dan ik het al altijd Vond!!
Thank you all very much for the comments, really appreciated.
My heartfelt apology, appreciation and respect for your honesty and report.
Wow Bob,
That picture is pretty scary, lucky I guess that she landed on her feet, a sprained ankle is no fun, but infinitely better than landing on the back or head.
Best wishes to both of you and may this be the worst accident that you’ll ever have.
Richard
Master Stefano,
Right on the spot, we all make (or have happen) mistakes, live and learn. I learned (still do :)) and I hope that other people doing bondage will see this as a learning experience as well.
Bob, I know both of you and I’m glad you shared this part of your experience with us. We will try our best to improve and learn and sometimes we have to learn from mistakes or incidents. That’s the tough way. For you, for DD and for all of us.
Thanx, the ego’s are much better already 🙂
I can be lighthearted about it. But fact remains we do dangerous stuff with beautiful people and accidents happen…. know what you are doing, understand every aspect of your “business” before you attempt this.
Veel respect voor je openhartige verhaal!!
Beterschap aan je “Girl” ‘s enkel en je ego… 😉
Ivo