Quote Originally Posted by alias View Post
Glad to find more finger twirlers amongst cavers. I was starting to think cave community was mainly thumbers because so adamant has been the resistance if not ridicule when bringing this up pre-dive. I am always sure to ask what people use for turning, especially because my first cave instructor was a thumber. I have always been a turner not a thumber but I’ve found that a lot of cavers prefer the unequivocal thumb. I will do what is agreed but I can’t help it that I always associate thumb with ‘out NOW’, and get slightly irritated if there are delays without explanations after it is presented.
The problem is a lot of the old school instructors out there teach it and don't think anything else is acceptable. They're still cranking out students and so that's what you get. It's how I was taught and what I did until my incident. Now I twirl and rarely thumb. And I teach my students the same. I did have one student go on to another instructor when I told him he wasn't ready for the next level and he told me he was chastised for twirling. It's just the way it is. I guess until they're in a situation where it makes a difference they'll keep thumbing all dives. I even tell my students if they thumb it that means no drills. But it doesn't mean they can thumb every dive!