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

 

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