Fencing

[Subdeacon Joe]

I'm watching Men's Foil.  Watching the theatrics of the fencers protesting after every touch, or no-touch, decision, and the gestures of the judges as they explain a decision is as entertaining as watching the actual combat.

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

They need to remove the blunt tips!

Then there won’t be any arguments over who won!!

[Subdeacon Joe]

23 minutes ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

They need to remove the blunt tips!

Then there won’t be any arguments over who won!!

 

And the whole concept of "right of way" in fencing would disappear. 

[Stump Water]

Took Fencing I & II as my PE electives at University.  Loved it.

 

It may be more exciting to watch than golf, but just by a hair.

[Smokin Gator SASS #29736]

I watched some and didn't like it. The way they're trying to just tap the other person.  

[Subdeacon Joe]

17 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

I watched some and didn't like it. The way they're trying to just tap the other person.  

 

It only takes about 2 to 5 pounds of pressure for a rapier (epeé de combat) to penetrant.  The fencing foil was used as a training tool for the epeé.  That's pretty much a tap.  Doesn't have to be very deep to be disabling.   Or at least causing enough of a  flinch to let the successful attacker make a lethal attack. 

 

I wasn't able to find a good answer for how much pressure it takes for an edged weapon to cut flesh,  but I've given myself some nasty cuts on the foot dropping a 12 inch slicing knife in the kitchen. Yes, at home I don't wear shoes in the kitchen. So, how much force from an 8 oz.  knife falling 36"?  How much pressure would a 3 inch long,  5 micron edge generate?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alpo]

For those that enjoy reading, I suggest the Modesty Blaise novel A TASTE FOR DEATH. Fourth one, 1969.

 

There's a part where Modesty is learning to fence. Except she doesn't want to learn to fence - she wants to learn to fight. So she uses the epee, because it is the same weight as a rapier. Women normally use a foil because they're lighter, but she wants to use something that feels like a weapon. There's one spot where the fencing master makes the touch on her arm, and he relaxes because he got the point, and she ignored the touch and followed through with a lunge into his chest.

 

And he starts giving her grief for not stopping when she got touched, and she says, "yes, but I killed you".

 

And he blows up. "You are not learning to duel, you are learning to fence!!!"

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Wonder how they would do against Zorro?

 

[Rip Snorter]

I fenced through college, my kids fenced on NCAA Championship teams in college.  No fencing sword, foil, saber or epee bears more than a slight resemblance to a real fighting sword.  Epee is the closest, and can be dangerous if the blade breaks, but is simply for sport as are the other two and not weapons by any stretch of the imagination.  

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

fencing = horse high

                 bull strong

                 pig tight

                 5 strands of barbed wire on well bedded white mahogany posts 🙃

[Rip Snorter]

2 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

fencing = horse high

                 bull strong

                 pig tight

                 5 strands of barbed wire on well bedded white mahogany posts 🙃

Funny! One of my son's HS Fencing Buddies was dating a Ranch gal.  Visiting was told they were going to be fencing in the morning.   Showed up in T shirt, shorts and sneakers.  They took mercy on him and sent him back to change, but they did work him.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Picket, split rail, chain link, or chicken wire?

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Picket, split rail, chain link, or chicken wire?

 

Wattle.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

9 hours ago, Stump Water said:

Took Fencing I & II as my PE electives at University.  Loved it.

 

It may be more exciting to watch than golf, but just by a hair.

I needed a phys ed class and chose fencing.  They paired us off alphabetically and I got the daughter of a family that got out of the Soviet Union after WWII.  Her parents were both professors.  

 

Taylor and Tatanich.  Gloriana was spectacular: 6'1" and build like most movie stars wish they could be and  absolutely gorgeous

 

One dayI did something that she didn't approve of ....the I did it again.

 

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't be hurt by a Belgian pattern foil.  She didn't even try to use it like a sword but she damn near whipped me to death by using both hands to use it like flail.

 

I dated her for a month or so, but she just scared the bejabbers out of me.  I was covered in bruises and welts..... and a lot of them had nothing to with fencing.  

 

I found girl half her size and every bit as beautiful.

[Utah Bob #35998]

And a Japanese fencer won the gold. First time in Olympic history a non European has won. I enjoyed it! Watched both the men’s and women’s matches.

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

On 8/4/2024 at 9:54 AM, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

And the whole concept of "right of way" in fencing would disappear. 

What’s that?

[Subdeacon Joe]

30 minutes ago, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

What’s that?

 

Basically it establishes who scores in the case of simultaneous touches.

 

Right of way can be gained by:

• Initiating the forward extension of the arm before the opponent, which signifies an attack.
• Parrying an opponent's attack, and following immediately with a riposte.
• Establishing a point-in-line by extending the arm and holding it.
• Beating the opponent's blade to begin an offensive action.

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

On 8/5/2024 at 3:38 PM, Tell Sackett SASS 18436 said:

What’s that?

In Massachusetts, you have the right of way if your father did.

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

In Massachusetts, you have the right of way if your father did.

That's only in politics. In Pilgrim traffic, the guy with the crappiest car has the Right of Way. 

[Sedalia Dave]

In Naples Italy and Puerto Rico it's Total Tonnage

[Alpo]

In Puerto Rico everybody gives the right of way. You be driving down the highway and people will pull right out in front of you, expecting you to stop. And Puertoricans stop. The first time you try driving down there you come real close to having accidents because everyone expects you to stop and they pull right out in front of you.

 

And then, when Puertoricans come up here for the first time, again accidents, because they pull out in front of people expecting them to stop.

[Ozark Huckleberry]

Naples, Italy was a fun place to drive. Once while I was stationed there in the early 90s, the city was running short on funds so they shut off the traffic lights. Made. No. Difference. Driving from the base to the embassy, the shortest distance was through a streetcar tunnel. So that's the way you went. The tunnel was only about 50 yards long, so as long as you didn't have anyone behind you, you were probably okay. After being back in the states for about a week I had a Naples driving flash-back -- I was sitting about three cars back at a traffic light, and noticed that: a) people were just sitting at the red light even though there was no cross traffic, and b) I could use the adjacent turn lane to bypass the cars ahead of me and go on through the intersection. So I did.

 

Back to the original subject -- I used to watch Olympic fencing as a kid, but the sport got much more technical and a lot more finesse-y, so I kind of lost interest. I think it would be a lot more fun to watch if it got back to its roots -- sure, masks would be fine to protect the face, but otherwise, both contestants wear a long-sleeved white shirt, and the match goes until blood shows.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

13 hours ago, Alpo said:

In Puerto Rico everybody gives the right of way. You be driving down the highway and people will pull right out in front of you, expecting you to stop. And Puertoricans stop. The first time you try driving down there you come real close to having accidents because everyone expects you to stop and they pull right out in front of you.

 

And then, when Puertoricans come up here for the first time, again accidents, because they pull out in front of people expecting them to stop.

Sounds like everyone takes the right of way and expects others to give it.