epee

[anotheranon]

Went to fencing tonight (yeah, I know, in this heat - crazy! But the club is air conditioned), and no foilists showed. So, I borrowed a weapon and fenced epee.

For the longest time I've had a snobby attitude towards epee - "foil without the rules", I'd call it. I tried it around a year ago and it seemed like lots of hard hitting with little technique (and no parries). I'm happy to say I was wrong.

• Because everything is a target, there is stronger impetus to NOT get hit. As such, lunges are longer in order to keep distance, and a lot of the "no parries" is simply waiting for the other person to either extend sloppily or otherwise make a mistake.
  
• Because there's no right of way, mutual touches count for both fencers. It's good to extend first and stay there, if only to hide your arm behind the bell guard and point.
  
• About that bell guard - it's bigger than the foil bell, and to some extent can be used to "push" the other person's blade away, a bit but not entirely like rapier (still no quillons).
  

Don't think I'll be giving up foil or taking on epee anytime soon, but it's something to remember next time I'm given the option.

I still think that if I gave up foil I'd develop a lot of sloppy habits - in foil, at least, touches to my arm don't count :P