Monkey's Fists have skydiving applications!!!

Hi everyone,
I learned recently, since I took up skydiving, that the Monkey's Fist
has an application in the sport.

Most modern skydiving rigs use a "throw-out pilot chute" to deploy the
main canopy. At the bottom of the container that is worn on the back is an
elastic (spandex) pouch called the BOC (bottom of container). A pilot
chute -- a small parachute at the end of a webbing bridle -- is folded and
stuffed into the BOC, leaving a handle sticking out the side. It is this
handle that is gripped by the skydiver when it is time to deploy the main
canopy. (No more "ripcords" on the chest.) The handle is pulled, and being
attached to the top of the pilot chute, that chute and the bridle get thrown
into the relative wind. The pilot chute catches air, flies back behind the
skydiver, pulls the bridle taught, and pulls a pin out of a loop, enabling
the main canopy to come out of a pouch in the container. The main canopy
inflates and slows the descent to something survivable. :-P

I found out by looking at the available gear for skydivers that there
are usually three options for the pilot-chute handle: a "hacky" (which looks
like a hacky sack but is filled with material other than beans); a freefly
handle (usually a rectangular, nylon-covered cushion); and a Monkey's Fist!
(usually made with 8 or 9 turns)

When I saw that Monkey's Fists could be used in skydiving, I was
ecstatic. I thought to myself, "When I get a rig of my own, I'm going to
make a Monkey's Fist pilot chute handle and have it installed!"
Well, I did buy myself a rig last month, and I set about making a
Monkey's Fist for it.

I was counseled to use a golf ball or practice golf ball as a core, so I
went out and bought some -- a box of regular balls and a box of yellow foam
ones. I got home that night and proceeded to attempt to tie a 9-turn
Monkey's Fist around a slippery golf ball. WHO WAS I KIDDING?! It proved
to be impossible. 9 turns just will not stay organized when tying a
Monkey's Fist in the hand.

I remembered that I had seen (probably in the IGKT newsletter a few
years ago) pictures of a rig made of intersecting rods that someone had made
and used to make Monkey's Fists. I didn't think much of it when I first saw
it, since I had never made a Monkey's Fist more ambitious than a 3-turn one.
I ended up so frustrated with my first attempt that I put it all away for a
few weeks. I recently took the project back up and used some flimsy bamboo
barbecue skewers and cardboard as a framework, and with supreme effort, I
was able to make a pretty handsome Monkey's Fist around a golf ball! Of
course, after it was done I decided it was a bit too heavy and firm for the
skydiving application, so I proceeded to make another one around a foam
practice golf ball -- with even better results. I now plan to splice two
colors of paracord to make bi-colored Monkey's Fists to sell to other
skydivers for their rigs.

Does anyone have any information on the kind of lattice framework I
described for making Monkey's Fists? I have been thinking about buying some
wooden dowels and balsa wood to make my own. I would prefer if I could
eliminate that need. Does anyone make commercially-sold frames for this
purpose?

Any help, advice or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

---Jeffrey

"Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying, life:
bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky."

Delurking long enough to reply to the following post --
On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 04:18:14 -0500, "Jeffrey"
wrote:

Hi everyone,
snip
I remembered that I had seen (probably in the IGKT newsletter a few
years ago) pictures of a rig made of intersecting rods that someone had made
and used to make Monkey's Fists. I didn't think much of it when I first saw
it, since I had never made a Monkey's Fist more ambitious than a 3-turn one.
I ended up so frustrated with my first attempt that I put it all away for a
few weeks. I recently took the project back up and used some flimsy bamboo
barbecue skewers and cardboard as a framework, and with supreme effort, I
was able to make a pretty handsome Monkey's Fist around a golf ball! Of
course, after it was done I decided it was a bit too heavy and firm for the
skydiving application, so I proceeded to make another one around a foam
practice golf ball -- with even better results. I now plan to splice two
colors of paracord to make bi-colored Monkey's Fists to sell to other
skydivers for their rigs.

Does anyone have any information on the kind of lattice framework I
described for making Monkey's Fists? I have been thinking about buying some
wooden dowels and balsa wood to make my own. I would prefer if I could
eliminate that need. Does anyone make commercially-sold frames for this
purpose?

Any help, advice or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

---Jeffrey

"Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying, life:
bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky."


Try this...

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dew...y+Fist+Jig.jpg

Not my photo or website but it is my setup for a golf ball -- simple
plumbing pipe/connector with knitting needles held together with
electrical tape -- size the pipe to the ball to be covered. The
larger one is the same idea only made to be a demo so that I can
remember how the cords lay.

Ed



Sincerely yours,

A Fellow KnotHead!
remove $pamblocker$ to reply

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