Rapier 2011

I had the good fortune to be able to attend the rather excellent Rapier 2011 event held by the School of the Sword and I'd like to see more events like that. Don't get me wrong- Fightcamp is an excellent event for deciding what you want to look at properly and generally having fun with new concepts, it also runs the risk of decision lock. Where you have so many options you can't choose what to do.

In contrast, Rapier 2011 was a single weapon event with one workshop on at a time. One of the first things that I've learned over that weekend is that I should really do some yoga/core strength and flexibility work. Rapier is a very demanding weapon and being able to hold a 3-4 pound weight at arms length for the entire fight is only the start of it.

I have said before that sword fighting is very simple. Which it is- there are easily grasped rules and body mechanics to it. The beauty is that these simple things build together to create a complex whole. How you apply these rules is largely a matter of preference and then building them into a bigger picture comes with skill and experience.

You could see this in some competition fights. A nice bout of mental chess happening then despite nobody actually attacking, one person loses, retreats out of distance and tries a different approach. It also appeared in the lessons- despite some movements being unusual, people easily grasped the concepts and could see how it works. Nothing was counter intuitive. Although, I am still having difficulty stepping inwards when someone is trying to stab me in the face.

Anyway, comments about the workshops:

There were two recycled from Fightcamp. The School of the Sword's slow-motion flow drill and Dave Rawlings' introduction to Thibault. I have no problem with this, especially because the slow motion flow drill is a brilliant training technique.

The Thibault stuff. Personally I'd have liked a broader sweep of the subject so I could put things into context and see how it all fits in. However, it's clear that Mr Rawlings knows his stuff and is a perfectionist. I suspect he's got this flowchart/decision tree tattooed on the back of his eyelids and he was reading the first few branches.

A nice touch was changing hands all the time. The other arm tends to get neglected and doing 2 hours of holding your sword at shoulder height is knackering. It was an intensely technical lesson and quite mentally tiring. Maybe concentrating on the principle of blade feel would have made it clearer. I'm not entirely sure exactly what I've taken away from that lesson, but I think I got a lot.

Dutch rapier. Now, this was interesting. I've had a question about something Swetnam mentions. I can't be bothered to find the exact text but it is along the lines of turning your knuckles up and stepping in. It appears there's a Dutch analogue and all is now clear. And it also seems to work as a point down/point up parry with rapier and dagger.

Voids, contratempo and work against the blade. I found myself getting quite frustrated during this. Not because it was difficult or boring but because it moved at a very fast pace, so I managed to get it right once or twice but not enough to seal it in my mind. For me the lesson went "Ow. Bollocks, that wasn't right. Ah, I know what I did wrong. Ah-ha!. Yes, I think I have it. What do you mean stop? I've only just got up to speed". It has shown me something about organising lessons which is plan too much, know you're planning too much and then let the students set the pace. If they need more time on it, give them more time. If they get bored, up the conflict. Techniques I've taken away are few- I've improved the void of the head (although, I doubt I'll use it in sparring) and stepping in and striking from off line.

French rapier. The thing that stood out from this was a very neat way to deal with having your sword grabbed. I'm not going to say much about it apart from it's a bit devious. Lots of good things about fight psychology- things that don't appear in sparring, like if you thoroughly stab someone they are "not dead yet" and so have nothing left to lose and can turn into a very dangerous opponent until they finally drop.

The competition: There should be some video of this from the School of the Sword. It's quite hard to comment on that because of the amount of fighting and the tendency for it to blur together after the first hour. Especially when you're wondering about getting back to the hotel and changed for dinner.

There was also a little presentation from an assistant curator of the Wallace Collection. They're doing a very interesting event next spring/summer involving what we do. The Wallace is a hidden treasure of London and I'd recommend going anyway but the addition of the original manuscripts and an exhibition on the evolution of sword arts- it's now a must see rather than a mere "you'll enjoy this".

Thie was written in advance, but for some reason, the scheduling had messed up (probably due to me)