All cinches share a common goal, wrap a rope around a victim in order to extract them from an entrapment when it isn’t safe to make contact with the victim. There are a variety of methods for accomplishing this task based on the situation where the victim is trapped. The ET3 cinch (compliments of Jim Coffey) is fast to set-up and only requires two people and one throw rope. It’s a great technique when the victim is reasonably close to shore (15’ – 20’).

Notes:

• The green and white ropes represent the shore lines.
• The yellow arrow shows the direction of the current and is points downstream.
• The Orange helmet is the victim with a foot entrapment.
• The White Helmets are the rescuers.

ET3 Cinch Steps

1) The victim is trapped and requires assistance.  Each rescuer butterfly coils roughly half a rope.  I use a common climber’s technique and mark the halfway point of my rope which makes this easier.

2) Both rescuers simultaneously toss a loop over the victim.

3) The Upstream rescuer crosses their rope over the downstream rescuer’s line.

4) The previous downstream rescuer walks their line Upstream for a good pull angle.  Once in position, they “Pop” the victim free pulling upstream.  Notice the victim is fully encircled in a loop.

5) Once freed, the rescuer downstream and across from the victim pulls that Orange helmet guy into shore.