Cheers pal I truly am lucky . I'll grab the exact brands of rope I used after work and the settings for how soft they were you might of already knocked the nail on the head tho with it , my main climbing rope is quite hard and the vt rope I used isn't far off the same hardness so theirs one possiblity , I am hugely lucky and it's not put me off it's a huge learning curve for me you can't always be in contact with the tree in 2 places and unfortunately for me my system was flawed should of spotted the signs but dw I kno the signs first hand now , I was sometimes sitting back into it and it would bite no problem once or twice close to my fall I do remember having to push the vt system up with my hand as I got the weight on it and just there is proof of a flawed system anyways, I did remember as my climb went on I felt like my vt system wasn't snitching my rope as fast as it did an hour in it was raining and wet aswel so theirs 2 factors right there that me being a novice failed to spot and address luckily I'm here soaking it all in and not in a wheel chair or dead . Loved every minute of it tho bar the near death experience thinks like this should never happen but they do without the kno how and what to look out for with a bomb proof setup . I'll get back to you on the sizes and stats of my death setup stay safe peeps