just out of interest, how many of those of us who wear
chutes, use a deployment line attached to that odd
looking ring usually found by your left shoulder?

Be very careful about this. The parachutes we use in gliders are not designed
for static line deployment; they're designed for the pull of a hand in a
particular direction. If you rig a static line directly to the ripcord, you
risk a very good chance of just ripping off the handle.

On a parachute, the container is kept closed by little cones and rings. The
ring goes through the cone, and in the case of a ripcord, there is a pin going
through a hole in the cone to keep the cone in place. For static line, a piece
of line is wrapped around the static line and then through the hole in the
cone. When you jump out, the pull of the static line breaks the thin piece of
line, releasing the pilot chute.

Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ