Safety and HEMA

My main reason for staying with HEMA for so long is that it's fun. The health benefits, the ability to purge my fight or flight instincts, the fact that I do not look like an easy target (quite important if you're wandering the streets at night wearing eyeliner and flouncy shirts) and all the other bits are side effects. I'm not competitive, except against myself so I'm not out to win fights. In fact, part of that is not doing my best in a fight and helping someone else improve- explaining things to other people helps your own understanding.

And this is the position I come from when discussing safety.

As far as I'm concerned, masks are essential. I will not take part in anything resembling a real fight without a mask on. My primary targets are face, neck and chest. No mask means I will not go for the face or neck. Why? Well, I refer you to my main reason for doing this. Pulling your friend's eyeball from your sword does not come under my definition of fun. (And friend they will be, or at least someone you trust and respect- unless you're an utter moron). In a good fight, things move fast and get confusing, your brain switches off and you run on instinct. In this situation, accidents will happen. It's just a matter of time and hoping that it's only a minor one. I've recently had a blade break on me- the flexible bit just went sproing as it was thrust into me. These things happen and if I wasn't wearing a decent jacket it could have been quite nasty- hospital visit, stitches and several weeks off training kind of nasty. Instead, I had a rather pathetic bruise.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind hurting and getting hurt, but I draw the line at harm. In fact, I don't want to cause any damage that requires more than a 10 minute pause for things to ease. I certainly don't want to cause any damage that prevents the post fighting beer.

So how does this affect my fight?

I tend to pull blows when they look like they'll land on unprotected areas. I'll never try anything particularly dastardly unless I know my opponent's wearing a box. This means that unprotected fighting is not going to help my technique. Some people may be able to override those instincts, but it serves no purpose for me to do so. I know I don't treat blows as seriously as I should if I were training for combat.

If I were to get into a real fight, I know things would be different. For one thing, I would not be armed (unless you count an umbrella or a beautiful blackthorn and yew dress cane that would look terrible covered in the blood of a ruffian...anyway), I would be as weary of getting hit as I am now, but I would use all the dirty tricks. Stabs to the throat, eyes, testicles, knee stomping, the lot. Why? Because I would be fighting for my life. The fundamental difference is that I don't want that person to come back, I don't want a beer and a laugh with them when it's all over. I want to see them running away or down and staying there until the police arrive. Preferably the latter.