Halcyon cinch and removal in emergency

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As others have said, I want to reiterate- in an emergency, the harness is easy to cut.

A not-insignificant percentage of non-side mount tech divers dive a one-piece / continuous harness. You would think tech divers would be very safety-focused, right?

The club members who are concerned about the continuous harness are just unfamiliar with it.
 
If you have to get someone out of their harness in an emergency - cut it! That’s the beauty of a BP/W, $25 in webbing (Halycon price) and you’re back in business.

The Cinch has no bearing on it. I got certified in a BP/W.

I carry a trilobite cutter on either wrist when diving if it is an emergency I will cut you out of your dive gear/wetsuit/clothing if it is needed to save your life.

As others have said, I want to reiterate- in an emergency, the harness is easy to cut.

A not-insignificant percentage of non-side mount tech divers dive a one-piece / continuous harness. You would think tech divers would be very safety-focused, right?

The club members who are concerned about the continuous harness are just unfamiliar with it.

This pretty much sums it up in my opinion.

1) if the harness is sized properly you shouldn't have any more trouble getting out than somebody in a poodle jacket
2) a trilobite cuts through 2" webbing like a hot knife through butter
 
Don't get me wrong rescue isn't worried about the gear if it is lost it is lost jacket, side mount, bpw in the moment of a rescue it is about saving a life.

If your group isn't familiar with a bpw or side mount the pre dive is the time to discuss rescue procedure you are doing a pre dive with your buddy or team any you.
 
Hi all, can someone help with this question. Ive got a halcyon eclipse bpw with the cinch system, Im new to diving and so far have only been in the pool with my club and am a novice. Anyhow, a few people at my club are concerned that the one piece harness of the cinch system makes it very difficult for someone else to remove the bpw in an emergency, as it has no breaks. What is a worthy counter argument against this opinion, anyone ??

Also, for anyone who is using the Halcyon cinch, how easy/difficult do you find it (in a training situation) to loosen and remove the bpw while underwater ?? I have not tried this exercise yet but would expect you need to undo the belt buckle and crotch strap first before pulling the shoulder straps up to loosen the harness !

I mentioned to my club trainer that I could doctor the cinch harness add some pinch releases, but the response was not favourable as he explained doing so would effectively ruin the cinch and its design/purpose. So this has left me in a bit of a dilemma, and got me thinking why I bought the thing in the first place, which is another question entirely.

I suppose what im asking is this, is the cinch system safe for novice divers ??

Thanks in advance for any response

EEZYCUT TRILOBITE Orange and Yellow

Put that on the left hand side waist strap, or perhaps on the bit on the right that is supposed to take a canister light battery. I have to say the cinch bit of my Halcyon backplate is in a box in the garage, not on the harness.

Brief buddies to use it to remove you from the harness.

Doesn’t your club have kit for trainees? You may be better learning in kit familiar to the instructor and then after you have the basic skills sorted out adapting them for your specific kit. If the instructor has never used a backplate/wing with a single piece harness they will not be able to show you the various little tricks that make it work, especially putting it on and gett8mg it off.

Assuming your club is a BSAC one, you will be doing Ocean Diver. There is no call to teach dekiting a casualty on the course. That comes in Sports Diver. At that point you have to have a think about the impact of your ki5 choices on the other trainees. They are not expected to deal with your specific kit configuration, but kit in general, there are different considerations. For example when lifting a person In a typical jacket style BCD you need to avoid accidentally undoing shoulder clips.

You should also seek a bit of clarification from within the club before messing with your kit. It may just be an offhand comment from one particular person. If the club has an anti BPw attitude then there are other clubs, go north until you get to the wiggly wet bit and stop and look about :)

Note that there is never a requirement to dekit under the water, just at the surface and on the courses in standing depth. It is not actually that hard to do with a casualty in a single piece harness but you cannot expect a random rescuer to have ever done it, hence the cutter.
 
I dive with the cinch, it works very similair to any other the harness/plate setup. removing or adjusting the cinch in and out of the water is really easy. Release the buckle, ensure the waste band is about 45 degrees up towards you torso and push midway on the shoulder strap to release. Out of water there must not be any load on the shoulders strap to release.

If all else fail in an emergency cut the webbing
 
If you have to get someone out of their harness in an emergency - cut it! That’s the beauty of a BP/W, $25 in webbing (Halycon price) and you’re back in business.

The Cinch has no bearing on it. I got certified in a BP/W.
Agree with Marie: you are supposed to carry a cutting tool when you wear a harness which does not have breaks (or at least I have been told to).

During the buddy check you should tell:
  • In case of emergency use my cutting tool, make a fold on the harness and cut on the fold
  • If you can’t locate my cutting tool, unbuckle the belt, remove the crotch part of the harness from the belt buckle and flip the harness over my shoulders or pass my arm through the harness, although cutting the harness is the preferred solution in case of emergency ?
 
This reminds me of back when I took my rescue class. In one of the drill situations, I deployed my cutting device, grabbed the BC..... Should have seen the face of the victim....

I think it is @Jim Lapenta who actually does a webbing cutting drill. Probably others too.

YMMV
 
I did the PADI Rescue course in a Halcyon Infinity (cinch harness) with zero issues. Showed how a pull on the free end of the webbing pops the waist buckle, and nobody had a problem from there. The harness rolls off easily in the water once the buckle is released and the crotch strap drops away.

Lance
 
s the cinch system safe for novice divers ??
My backplate has the cinch system. Except that it sometimes allows for a worse fit of my harness - usually loosening up - I have had zero issues with it. Particularly when it comes to doffing it.
 

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