Greet's Middle Ages

Fencing club found!

I've found a fencing club!  And it meets today...so I'll report back tomorrow.  It's cheap, too!
(happy dance)

And the instructor says that ballet is an EXCELLENT preparation for fencing - that old manuals use ballet terminology to describe movements.  (See mom, you did a good thing.)

GW: Fencing Melees

  I stumbled on this, walking back to camp one day.  "Hmm, that looks like a rapier melee, waiting to happen."  And it was.  This is the Trimaris side.  Can you see (click to enlarge) the crowns, sitting on the hill, upper right?  And mid-distance is somebody else, and I think there may be a third faction in the far background.

However, once they got started, it was clear that a rapier melee is a footrace with funny clothes.  First, you have to run down to the action.

(I'm safely behind the waterbearers, there.)

Then, once you get poked to death, which will happen quickly, since rapier has a greater target area than heavy weapons (=no armor), you have to run back to camp to get resurrected.

Which you accomplish by striking the white pole with your blade.  Then you turn around and run back to the action.

I was sitting on this hill thinking, "if I had appropriate gear, I could do that now, regardless of still learning how to lunge."  I'm also thinking that melee may not be my favorite sort of rapier action.

I also watched the rapier fort battle, later in the week.  Again, the most interesting part were the pickup fights afterwards.

Renn Faire Show Fencing

I happened upon the following theatrical lesson at the end of the day.  This young boy was learning that you protect your neck by thinking of his sword as a pendulum on a clock, suspended from the tip, to block your opponent's blade.  Let the sword swing right...

...then left...

And you protect your legs by thinking of the sword like a golf club...swing right...

And your shoulders from an overhead assault with a held block!

which then you could, slide down your opponent's blade, catch his guard, and ram your hilt into her gut!  (Wish I'd gotten a picture of that - this little guy was the best at that part.)

This theatrical swordplay company is called Phoenix Swords, and the gal teaching did a really good job.  I now have a better idea how to learn choreography - I always wondered about that in movies.  I knew it was all choreographed, but how to break it up so you could name it and remember it...voila.

UWF Fencing Club and Mobile Pirates

"Salle Mcafee"

I spoke to Douglas Rusinko about the group that he instructs, and he gave me some direction, and also some information about how to get more instruction.  Turns out they meet three times a week, and some of their accomplished member-officers give lessons on the side.  Also Douglas does demos in a restaurant in Destin, Captain Kidd's Seafood Buffet, which he encouraged me to turn up at.

I also chatted up a couple of female fencers who were strutting around in very nice SCAdian doublets and feathered hats.  I picked them out as SCAdians not only by the quality of their garb, but also by the red tips on their blades - aha! those blades are actually used!  They said they were from Mobile, and I gave them GMA cards, and we talked about possibly doing a women's pirate thing for Billy Bowlegs sometime.

And then at FP Sunday, Thomas lent me his copy of Nick Evangelista's The Art & Science of Fencing.  This means I want to order The Woman Fencer, by Nick and his wife Anita, and I'll have lots to read.

Fencing

This is a new category - but not the last, by any means!  (I have SO many interests...)

I am not sure what gave me the idea that fencing was not only cool (self-evident, really!) but something that I should try.  I know I was taken along to watch my uncle Tom teach fencing in the Cleveland area when I was a small child.  I recently found out my aunt Amanda (other side of family) competed in fencing while in college, and she's also a ballet-trained dancer, like me.  I was Very Impressed by the femme fatale that Madonna played as a female fencer in "Die Another Day."  You could also blame the incessant replaying of "A Princess Bride" on TNT - "I am not really left-handed". At any rate, I want to learn to Do That.

A coplayer in Phoenix Glade who did academy work in fencing lent me his theatrical blade to fool around with, and showed me a beginning drill, to teach distance and start on tip control.  I assume a fighting stance, bent knees shoulder-width apart, right toe directed towards my target, left shoulder pulled back out of range, and...extend my arm to poke a tree.  Or a Post-It note taped to the wall of my office.  That's it so far, but it's much harder than it looks.

I need more stuff to continue.  First, gloves, to continue the drilling.  I think I'll order these - click on "Fencing Supplies".

With a 4-3/4" cuff, strong enough to protect from a poorly aimed thrust while still
being light enough to allow full blade control. White goatskin leather Shown below Available in sizes 8-14 - $ 18.00/pair

I have short fingers, and not large hands, so getting gloves small enough to fit is a challenge.  I think 8 should be okay, and cheap enough to alter if the fingers are too long.

Then, more information.  I have these two books on my Amazon wishlist - Fencing and the Master, by Lazlo Szabo (Hungarian!*), and The Woman Fencer, by Nick Evangelista.  Hopefully I'll get one of them in the next month or so.

*Regarding the Hungarian connection - Hungarians are "associated" with fencing - as are the French and Italians.  Which are the other two cultures I know a lot about, and the other languages I can muddle through.  Funny, huh?

When I get far enough along to need protective clothing, the people at Gipsy Peddlar seem to know about SCA rapier rules and conventions, so I might give them some business.  They also seem to sell trigger cloth, so I can make my own stuff.