Suspension Failure - The Firebird Flies

It happens.In the past week, I have had a severe failure with rope suspension that, if the frame had failed literally a minute earlier, could have broken my lover's neck. The other, I just got a call from a friend who a week after a rope suspension she bottomed to, can't lift her wrist.I can not speak on the details of my friend's encounter, save to say that the bondage was over her upper arm, tight, there was a lot of stress on her body. She did not feel pain, but now she can't lift her wrist... there is nerve damage of some sort. I sent her to a massage therapist who does work on nerve damage with instructions that if they can not help, to see a physician.The frame though- oh the suspension frame. This was a huge reminder for me about using other people's equipment, and on the fact that being obsessive is ok and trusting my gut is necessary.At Sacred Sexuality Beltane, they borrow their equipment from many different sources. The frame they let us bring down to the Pavillion for the Gender Bender Ball was borrowed from Black Rose. I had used a Black Rose suspension frame before and the bolt went all the way through the top beam and was cross anchored on the opposite side. I thought I was using the same design of frame, and thus did not climb on top to check.The frame had a bit of wiggle, but I hung myself in the air, swung around, was pushed around, and no matter how far I pushed it didn't tip over- it had a few degrees of play, but it wasn't falling over. Nonetheless, it looked wobbly so I asked two folks to spot the sides of the frame just in case, during the show, it did show signs of continued wiggling.The set was similar to what I had done before with Mina Meow, but with different music. S.J. Tucker's "Into the Labryth" had me laying rope on and seducing Mina, securing layer after layer on her chest and upper body points and tethering it up and off to the caribeeners I had attached to the eye-bolt in the center of the frame. In the second half, to "Firebird" also by S.J. Tucker, we took her, in all her red jingly bellydancing splendor, into the air.I started with one leg up, spun her, let the red cascade out to the music, red rope and natural, and it was beautiful. Then flip inverted into a dramatic dive, spin, push, move with her face down and ankles to the sky. Then flip again so she was almost in a seated position- legs out, ass down, face skyward. Push, pull, spin, move... and fly.Yup, she flew out of my hands, off the frame, towards the audience and landed on her ass.The entire bolt had come out from the frame.I had no time to think. I speed walked/ran over to her, as she shook her head and said to me "What happened? I'm on the floor?""Are you ok? How did you land?""On my ass, I'm totally fine, I'm just confused""Can you move""Yeah"I lifted her up by the ropes, lovingly and ferociously, in time with the music. She laughed. We started dancing, her trailing all her suspension lines behind her, still bound. We spun and swirled, kept going. I kept whispering things at her, asking her to check in with her body- her toes were sore from getting caught on the ropes, but that was all.I dragged/danced her off-stage as the song ended.One of the event medics came back to check on us. Were we ok? She laughed and gave him the same report. I checked in later that night, and the next day, and 3 days later... and she's fine. Not a scratch on her.I went to the frame at the end of the night and thanked it for waiting 1 minute before failing.*The eye bolt had been one and a half inches long*It was not all the way through the wood. It well loved. It was used and abused. It, in my opinion, had never really been fit for suspension, and was designed for being able to attach wrist cuffs up when flogging someone.Other frames from Black Rose look IDENTICAL- same design, same format- but the eye bolts go all the way through and are anchored with a bolt on the opposite side.This was sturdy enough to fool me. But constant use had wiggled the little blot loose in the grain of the wood. Blessedly, it came when she was in a seated position. I hate to think what would have happened if it had been a minute earlier, in an inverted spin.I am now carrying that bolt with me, on my carribeeners, as a reminder.This was not a skill issue. This was a hardware issue. And people need to remember it. Unless you built it, don't assume how old a frame is, how it is constructed, or how sturdy it is. Same with overhead points. If all you can see is where it comes out, don't assume. Next time, your partner might not be in a seated position, or be able to dance it off with grace.This applies for other similar concepts folks. You can not tell if a cock or cunt is "safe" to play with bareback just because it "looks" good. You can not tell if a cliff is "safe" to dive off of without exploring what rocks are in the water.You can- but you may not be able to dance it off.Thank you for letting us dance this one off.