poking people with pointy things

[anotheranon]

I did well at fencing tonight, but, doG, I had to work for it:

- disengage, not fruitless stabbing to the same line

- keeping distance so I have room to disengage

- disengage, disengage, and did I mention disengage?

A. broke a blade on me - I'm fine, and he's going to have to replace the blade, but I asked him to keep the broken one - when/if I ever do get around to making a fencing doublet I need something to test the materials for safety.

I lost the rubber safety tip on my foil and will need to replace it before next week. I've got a bunch of them but evidently they need to be boiled to soften them up and actually get them on the blade - rather like dental guards for sports. So, I'm cooking up plastic tips this weekend :P

I am cautiously contemplating getting an electric starter set if I pass my statistics class. I've been borrowing A.'s electric stuff for ~2 years now, and having a set would assure me I could fence at almost any club I might visit (because you never know....). If I do I will almost certainly replace the blade on this kit with a Triplette one - I'm used to them and pleased with them, and they're stiff enough that they won't do the dreaded "flick" action!

Re: "what's a flick?": flicking is the act of scoring a touch by making a whipping motion with the blade. It's bad form and bears no relation to what you'd use a "real" sword for, so I don't personally care for it. My form has suffered enough and I don't need more opportunities to decline :/

And I have declined in form/function. I got in early enough to watch the intermediate class drill and I can see that my motions are far wider than they need to be and I'm not using distance to my advantage. I don't want to just plateau, I want to improve!

Comments

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

So, I'm cooking up plastic tips this weekend :P

There is a down-n-dirty field-expedient way to do this. Pop one in your mouth and chaw on it for a minute or two to soften it up.

Had to do that once when I had to swap tips in the middle of a tournament.

Works best with foil tips, not so well with epee tips and don't even think about it for the rabbit blunts.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip (pun not intended!)

I am curious - what tournament were you fencing in that wasn't electric? Assuming it was sport fencing...

[(Anonymous)]

Rapier SCA tourney.

Bsck in the Day when we were mostly epee. This is how I learned that the trick, she don' work so good with epees.

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about you and foil form. I got a nice multiflash strobe setup, and was thinking of those great foil pictures taken with multiflash back in 1939, and how we could make similar pictures today. For safety, I'll let you wield the foil.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

You might want to check out a local practice and see what you get. I'm sure many fencers would like to have pictures or film to see where they can improve, etc.

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

As you wish.