I have not posted a lot recently as I have been in a rut with fencing. I'm facing the same people over and over again at practice, doing some teaching. I'm still enjoying things, but needed a day to just let loose and fence. I got that this past weekend at 1066 out in Long Island.
We drove out Friday night and stayed with friends. It was a gray day, with rain threatening all day. I watched an authorization bout, and made a comment to the fencer trying to authorize about his hand position while the marshals were discussing things. I'll get back to this in a little bit.
I did some pickups to get warmed up with a nice guy named Ian from Long Island.
For the tournament and melee we started out with 6 fencers. After getting a bite to eat, the tournament began. I usually don't eat before fencing, but had not had anything all day to that point. My first bout wound up being Jean Xavier. It was best 2 out of 3, single rapier only. I was victorious in a well fought series of passes. I love fencing against Jean Xavier. He is my Master, my friend, and one of the people who always makes me smile. I then faced two gentles I have never met before, Bob Fox and the guy who tried to authorize. I hit Mr Fox with a shot and he continued to come in and close with my point on him. He eventually called it good. Against the new guy, he was keeping his blade refused and was trying to jab his shots in. I thought I had a touch on him, but he got me in the side. Ah well.
This set us up for picking sides for the melee. I was captain of one team, while the provisionally authorized guy was captain for the other. It was a 3 on 3 resurrection bridge battle / capture the flag. There was even archers with Nerf arrows to add to the fun and theme. My side was competitive, but we could not gain the other side's flag (lanterns actually). After being run over a few times with my point on my opponents chest, a very hard shot to the head, and a little more melee stupidity, I decided I needed a break as I was not having fun. So I took myself out for a bit to relax. After all, this was supposed to be fun. After the short break we resumed, but this time, my side added a fencer, so it was 4-3, but we could only have 3 people out on the field at any time. It was a fun change to the scenario. One member of the opposing team had to go, so we needed to give up a person to balance the sides. I figured, why not me? So I switched sides for the last round. One of the archers, with her tiny nerf bow and arrows managed to shoot me 3 times during the last round. Twice I was shot while halfway across the bridge, not even engaged.
After the melees, I wound up doing some authorizations. I ran a bunch two-handed rapier authorizations, and we authorized four fencers in that weapons form. I think I fenced everyone on the rapier field with a 2 hander. I also authorized a fencer for case of rapier. At the end of the day, I was beat. That was the most fencing I had done in a long time.
At court, I was awarded the first place prize for the tournament. I traded it with the guy who finished in second, as Evan had made the 2nd place prize. To me, totally worth it. All in all a very good day of fencing.
So getting back to something I mentioned at the top, I gave unsolicited advice to someone I don't know. I see it as my job as a duelist to improve not only myself, but also help those I fence with. Sometimes I will notice something and just tell the person. In this case, the guy I gave advice to, I did not know, had not even introduced myself, and here I am, trying to give him advice. It was not done from malice, but to genuinely try to help. I think it was taken the wrong way, and set off this person, as it seemed like anything I said to him for the remainder of the day on the field was taken poorly. I also found out this person was a HEMA instructor, focusing on German long sword. Fencing him with long swords was some of the most fun I had all day.
The thing is, I don't want to stop giving advice, but I need to find a better way, most especially with people I don't know.
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