No Sense Being Piste At This Point
http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/2114/photos.html
http://www.twintiersfencingclub.com/
on 02/13/2012 at 12:16 PM
Have to thank you for this post.
I fenced in college. Got a small group interested and you’d usually find us fencing out on the quad. Around midnight. This usually caused campus security to show up – men with blades hacking at each other? Tends to tick off the security guys. But our other choices were to stay in the dorm and play D&D or chess.
Oh, I suppose we could have studied and done our homework, but where’s the fun in that?
Oh yes, sometimes we’d sneak a girl in.
This was BYU, girls weren’t allowed after 11PM. And never allowed into the dorm rooms. Except on Sunday, and you had to keep the doors open. Right!
Let’s just say we found ways around that! My memory is that the girls were hot! Probably practicing for that Mormon missionary they were gonna marry. I do believe practice makes perfect. I’m always willing to assist in perfection…
Wow, no wonder I like you guys. I too am a former college fencer. I did all three weapons, but specialized in Saber (aka Sabre.) Great memories of traveling around to other universities for competition. We were a tight bunch too. We also had a women’s team, with some super ladies. ALLEZ!
The one time I tried sabre I saw stars. I fléched him and missed, and he backhanded me behind my mask. Ouch! That hurt!
But fencing (foil, epee, sabre) is a fun sport. I don’t do team sports well. But indivdual sports like fencing, I can get into that.
Anyway, welcome BaldEagle. Don’t think I’ve seen you post before. Glad you like us. Keep posting.
Sabre is a blast BaldEagle! My favorite weapon!
These days sabre has gone electric, which has completely changed the nature of the game. I’m not current on FIE rules any longer, but I think I’ve heard that the whip over now counts as a valid touch. Boo hiss. Considering how flexible the thin little sabre blade is, that rule will make parries almost useless, thus the game becomes one of who can attack first with a big flick. Phooey. Things were much better when the blades were heavier and the tempo slower ... although the hits hurt more.
Gotta tell you about the time Grace and I fenced. I hit her right between her breasts, and she was wearing a front-snap bra. My hit undid it. She was so embarassed. We four guys locked arms and screened her so she could pull herself together.
If I ever fence again, I’ve got to remember that move.
Drew, electric just means all touches are counted. Not like in your and my day when we had to witness the touches as judges.
I’ve got to post this, because others probably don’t know.
I did foil fencing. Which meant that only the point hitting counted. And only on the body.
Epee is similar, just the point, but hits on arms and legs count.
Sabre is different. Any hit counts, anywhere. Point, or slash. Or bashed in the back of the head like I was.
Which means that Drew is a blood-thirsty monster.
Not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve been practicing with a broadsword, I’ve gotten pretty good at backslashing. Never know when you might need to… Guns sometimes penetrate the wall and put the neighbors at risk.
Any hit above the waist actually.
Foil is a gentleman’s game, with strict rules of Right of Way. A valid hit must have at least 500gm of force behind it.
Epee is not so gentle and has only one real rule: use the point. A valid hit must have at least 750gm of force behind it, so every hit gives you a bruise about the size of a quarter.
Sabre is nearly combat. Sure, it has Right of Way just like foil, but the tempo is much faster so it’s easier to “steal a march” and break the right of way. Saber has rules about excessive force, strictly enforced, and today’s blades are half the weight of those used back in the 50s. Modern sabre helmets have a serious mesh guard in the back that keeps you from getting knocked out. Most of the time. Yeah, getting slapped with a 3 foot long piece of steel is no picnic, which is why proper gear - an FIE spec jacket and plastron, a good thick leather glove, an elbow guard, and armored pants if you can afford them - is a good idea.
The guys who fence “rapier”, an unofficial sport that uses theatrical weight weapons (real but not sharp) wear hardened leather armor. A blow from one of those can break an unprotected arm or skull, and these weapons are still just mere toys compared to broadswords. To have it safely with those, you need a full suit of real armor with the best of modern padding inside.
Kendo, a Japanese kind of fencing, uses bamboo swords. They have to have some kind of serious protective gear for that as well.
Have to agree, sabre is more combat than sport. Foil is not even a real weapon, unless the tip breaks. I’ve had that happen a couple of times. I never did go for epee, didn’t seem much different than foil. Sabre though, those guys were seriously going to hurt you. And one young lady would also put some serious hurt on me. She’s beat me in foil most of the time. But she was on the BYU fencing team. I was just taking a PE class.
I guess the main reason I never took up sabre is that I was poor. Foils are relatively cheap, unless you want a fancy pistol grip. I don’t recommend those, go for French or Italian grips. I tried a pistol grip once, the problem is that if you go corps-a-corps you have no leeway. Your wrist will get hurt. A French or Italian grip lets your hand slide.
I did shell out for a three-weapon mask. A decent mask is worth the money. Always go for the three-weapon mask. Otherwise I usually fenced in jeans and a t-shirt. In class I’d use one of the universty’s half-jackets. Had to. I think there was some insurance thing involved.
Say what?? Sorry Chris, but your opinion is based on your gym class level experience. Pistol grip is the only way to go for foil or epee at any competitive level. The basic stance in foil with a French grip is just plain stupid, with the wrist turned over backwards like that.
It was always so much fun making that point to believers in the French grip: let them lunge at you and block their attack with a bind (prise de fer made from a coupe and a diagonal transfer without riposte), with a big yank from quarte to octave. The foil was ripped out of their hands every single time. Next week they’d show up at practice with a Belgian or Visconti grip. See it done with real swords here at the 1:28 mark
And unless you have a pair of those Action Jeans with the hidden crotch gusset ... one lunge, one pair of jeans as we used to say.
Actually we used to say lots of strange things, although we focused on quotes from Monty Python and Princess Bride.
“Boo. Boo. Rubbish. Filth. Slime. Muck. Boo. Boo. Boo.”
Well, you know me, I’m a conservative at heart. And cheap. And I didn’t compete. I just remember injuring my wrist while using a pistol-grip foil. Which wouldn’t have happened using a French or Italian grip. My hand would have slid up the grip. Pistol grip–no give.
This is fun! How many sites can you go to and have serious discussions about fencing?
And no, I don’t know what a Belgian or Viconti grip are. Guess I’ll have to watch that clip.
