My First Calf Suspension:
At A Glance Author Lone_Tone Contact hcs@holycitysuspensions.com IAM Lone_Tone When Three months ago Artist Lone_Tone/Spyder Studio Holy City Suspensions outdoor location Location Super Secret Location December 12th, 2004 marked my first year anniversary of suspension, so, naturally, I threw a party. I wanted to go big on this day; bigger than I ever had before. I wanted to do 4 suspensions, to make a total of 20 suspensions in my first year of doing it. I decided to one up myself on even this lofty goal and do a completely new one: my calves. With that background given, here we go....
I decided on doing my calves because I knew it was rare, and wanted to know why. I was also running out of things to do for the first time and had taken hooks in all the other usual spots that day. I had never known anyone who had done it, and had only seen a few pictures, but I know a lot about suspension, so I used my intuition as to where to place the hooks. I decided on placing them towards the top of the calf, only a few inches below the knee cap. I figured with this placement that I would essentially be doing a knee suspension with my legs straight. The idea was approved by everyone else as being the best way to do it without scarring my leg sleeve too badly. So it was settled.
As is my normal routine, I prepped and marked my own skin. I placed the marks on either side of each of my calves. Then we came to the choice as to which direction to pierce. We concluded to pierce such that I could lie on my back before going up; I liked that idea better than kissing the ground and not being to see my rigging as I went up. With all this decided, the guy piercing me this time, Spyder, gloved up and came at me. I had my calves pierced before for a lotus, but that was much lower down than these piercings, so I didn't know what to expect. As always, I simply cleared my mind and didn't expect anything; that way I couldn't be let down. The piercing was extremely painful. It felt very much as though the needle was burning its way through my skin and coming out around my Achilles. Of course it is always worth it though. I didn't notice any difference in intensity between the inner calf hooks and the outers; they all sucked. The real good thing about this leg suspension was the ease in which I could walk with the hooks in. I never even came close to snagging them on my shorts or on another part of my body; that is more than I can say about experiences with my knees in the past.
Next obstacle: rigging. I didn't want to do the typical rigging because if I simply ran the parachute line from the hook to an eyebolt and back down to the other hook, then it would create a triangle that I could catch my toes on when I went fully upside down. So I had to develop a block-style rigging that worked out just fine after a few minor adjustments. Then we came to the actual suspension. It was quite uncomfortable to depart the ground. I ended up having to put mild pressure on the hooks while I bent straight up at the waist, then had someone grab my hands as my butt was lifted until I was high enough for him to let go and to be completely inverted. The only way I can accurately describe the feeling is that it was cool. It is quite unusual to feel all your weight pulling up on your kneecaps instead of pushing down on them. I was afraid that this would be an uncomfortable experience, but it proved to be rather enjoyable. As for pain in the hooks, it was fairly intense. I spun a little bit, but didn't feel comfortable enough to swing too much. On a scale of suspensions, it was definitely more painful than a suicide or knee, but not quite as bad as a chest. It was most definitely extremely enjoyable though. I hung for only a minute or two on that first one. I didn't come down because it was too painful, I just don't like hogging the rig, and it was other peoples' turn to go. Coming down was easy as pie, but it took me a few minutes to feel good enough to walk safely.
After taking the hooks out, I bled significantly more than I normally do. Chock it up to the fact that it was in my legs, or the weather, or whatever you want; all I know is that it took a lot longer to stop than normal. Healing time was comparable to other suspensions I've done, with the only difference being that I felt discomfort in my legs for nearly twice as long as I have for knees (forgive me for comparing it to knees often, but they are quite similar and warrant comparison in my opinion.)
I have since done only one more calf suspension which was not as successful as the first for no particular reason. For anyone interested in doing this, I only recommend this to very experienced suspenders with experienced crews. I would not try to talk anyone out of it though if they had the right people around them. One other random statement as well: I usually only use 2 hooks when I suspend (9 gauge hooks) since I am only 140 pounds, but I would never even think of using less than 4 on this one, but that is just my personal preference.