Getting back into the swing of things

My hand/wrist issues have been getting better. I've been knocking the rust off, and actually using my rapier.  I've not been using the two handed sword as much.  I had been using my shorter blade since its lighter and thus not as fatiguing to my arm.  Tuesday, for the first time in quite a while, I put my tournament blade on my rig and fenced with it.  It felt very good to me.

I warmed up quickly with a set of passes with Don Sebastian Xavier (aka: Skippy, Sparky, Shackles).  It was nice to see him out and we were both knocking the rust off.  I was able to fight my fight, and even be more aggressive in controlling the bouts than I normally am.

Next up was working a little with His Nextelency, Jonathan Miles.  He wants to be a better fencer, not retreat so much as his primary defense and work on his blade work.  I showed him a trick I used which was to close my eyes and do drills with some opposition and disengages.  He was able to continually find my blade just by touch and not get out of position.  He could even feel an attack coming and responded properly.  I repeated the lesson later that evening with Christoper Serpentius (or whatever his SCA name is now).

Next up was a lesson with Berenika (aka Lucy). We both had rapier and dagger, but I brought out my 30" blade.  She was not used to having reach on an opponent, so when she closed, I was at the advantage.  I was able to get my blade free and on point, or I was quicker to the draw on the inside with the dagger.  We sat down and discussed what happened, her observations, and how things were going for her.

I then picked a fight with Dominico, who was standing around.  After a few passes, I noticed he was still strong arming his blade, so we worked on grip, theory, and then disengages around a doorknob.

My last partner for the night was Master Orlando.  Again, rapier and daggers, my favorite form.  During these passes, everything was flowing as if I didn't have an injury that prevented me from fencing.  Oh, don't get me wrong, Orlando was still able to tag me, but I felt good about my fencing for the first time in a long time.

I also noticed that I had more stamina than I used to have.  Not sure if this is because of going to the gym, vitamins, changes in my diet, but I'll take it.