The day after the vet event I drove back to Bellevue for the Senior Mixed Epee event of the Battle of Seattle. After all the fencing I had done the week before I was feeling, if anything, even more spacey and tired than the day before. For maybe the first time since I took up fencing again I almost didn't want to go. In part I was worried I'd do very badly, maybe even DFL, as Jeff puts it. But then I knew that was possible when I signed up for this one. A good part of why I signed up was for the chance to see such a large event with so many good fencers I rarely if ever see. So I dragged myself over and found a place to park very far from RCFC.
I got there with about 30 minutes to spare. It took me several minutes just to find a place to put my stuff. Every strip in the place was being used for warming up, except a few where the women's foil finals were going on. There were bags and people everywhere. I did some basic stretching in the tiny spot I found, put my stuff on, and wandered around. I found David, Dell, and Joel in the back by the big screen. We chatted a little. Dell asked if I wanted to do some fencing warm up. Sure, when a strip opens. None did for a while. Then the one right next to us did and I quickly went to claim it before someone else did, calling to Dell. But he was talking to someone and didn't hear. Then someone else took the other side and asked to warm up. Okay, I said. It didn't feel right to hold a spot for Dell with so many people waiting. So I fenced this guy for about 8 minutes. I've forgotten the name he had on his jacket. Was it Lu? (looking at the list, probably Chung Lu, a D from Canada) It was fun, fencing someone I didn't know. Neither of us were trying our best, but we were trying fairly hard and seemed more or less matched. It certainly got my brain thinking fencing, and my body more energized.
Then the organizers told us they were about ready and that there were 112 of us, making this the largest fencing event in Washington history. They had to do two flights of pools and my pool turned out to be in the second flight. So I had about an hour and a half to wait. Since the whole place was in use there was no place to do more warmup fencing.
My pool had seven fencers, including myself. In order of rating: Walter Dragonetti (A), Kaiden Crotchett (B), Scott Phillips (B), Michael Orzechowski (C), Daniel Volkmann (D), Chris Lutze (E), and me (U). I had fenced Scott Phillips once or twice, but not recently (last I knew he was a C or D). I knew of Dragonetti of course, but hadn't fenced him before. I looked forward to it, even if I expected to lose. I had watched Kaiden once or twice and had written a few notes. The others I had never heard of before.
My first bout was against Kaiden Crotchett. My notes told me he is young, fast, high-energy, but sometimes a little wild and easily frustrated. A hot-head, basically. Well, that wasn't enough for me to do much with and I lost 5-1. Kaiden screamed his head off with every single point. He did that when I watched him in the DEs of some other tournament. It was understandable then since things were getting nearer to the end. For Kaiden to do that for every single touch from the very start of the pools though struck me as either being immature or being a dick. I was happy to note it didn't affect me—if anything it made me try harder. Still.
My second bout was against Walter Dragonetti. In between a few of my clubmates were nearby. Marshall came over and was talking to Yuly, I think, about a plan for fencing someone. Then I jokingly asked Marshall, "so how do I beat this guy?" and pointed to Dragonetti, who was on strip. Marshall looked for a moment before seeing who I meant, then smiled and said "oh, Dragonetti. Heh heh heh..." He was going to walk away but then turned and said "actually..." and gave me a plan. To fence with strong absence of blade and patience—to just wait for him to attack and then, at the very last instant when I'm about to be hit, counterattack for a double. He stressed I needed to wait really until Dragonetti's blade was almost on me, otherwise he'd bind me up or beat or whatever. Then, according to the plan, once I'd scored a few doubles Dragonetti would start to think about getting singles and then he's start using preparations into which I should do a simple fast fleche.
Well, it was a fine plan. Even the idea of trying to doubles made sense—every point counts in the pools after all. I failed to make it work and lost 1-5. Still it was interesting. Dragonetti begin with his usual Varney-like defensive tactics, trying to draw me down to his end of the strip. I obliged him as long as I could without getting too close. I would be fine with time running out if it meant fewer hits whether I lost or not. After a while he changed tactics and began pushing me back toward my end of the strip and eventually launched a fast fleche. I tried to do what Marshall said and counterattack at the last moment, but I was too slow. This pattern repeated a few times. One time I did manage a double touch. Toward the end of the bout Dragonetti spent less time being defensive before coming to me. He didn't want time to run out before scoring 5 points. It was interesting to see him switch from defensive to offensive. In DE bouts I've watched him in he seemed to get a point or two up then stay in his defensive game. If time ran out, all the better for him. In the pools though, each of the 5 points matters for DE seeding. His switches to offensive were well timed. And when he finally did attack he used surprising fast and accurate fleches. Even though I was only trying to make double touches he kept managing singles for himself, except once. I was impressed. Makes me want to work on my fleche more. Especially after also watching his video, in which Leland Guillemin analyzes some fleche tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3PzWr8dqEY
My next bout was with Michael Orzechowski. By this time we were double stripping, in order to get the pools finished more quickly. This meant less time to rest between bouts. I wasn't tired yet, but I saw that Michael was when we got on strip. I think he had only just finished with someone else before it was our turn. And he was fenced Dragonetti, and won, shortly before, in an intense bout. Seeing that he was tired I did my best to push him and make him work hard, trying to tire him out as much as I could before launching actual attacks. Maybe that played into it, or maybe I was fencing better, but I managed to get to 4-4. Michael got the last point though. Whew, it was close. He looked a bit relieved after. He seems like a great guy and very friendly. His salute is a full on courtsey-bow with much flair. He's someone I don't mind losing to, and rooted for later in the DEs, unlike Kaiden, God's-gift-to-fencing Crotchett.
My next bout was with Scott Phillips, the young and ever-better RCFC kid. I lost, 1-5, ouch. Then I was 0 and 4 in the pools, out of 6. Maybe I would come in DFL. Then again, I had fenced the top rated people first and my last two were the D and E fencers, so maybe there was a chance.
Turned out there was a chance. I beat Daniel Volkmann 5-1, then Christopher Lutze 5-3. Yay. I began having trouble with my Vinti epee fencing Daniel. After some action it was showing "ground" and not scoring. The ref suggested I thwack it on the floor. That fixed it. Hmmm... That happened again in the next bout and thwacking wasn't fixing it, so the ref took it and I got my second epee. It wasn't registering hits at all. Aghast I asked John Varney to get my third epee, which was in the other room. He did. I plugged in, and it seemed to work. But when testing it the ref found it failed the shim test. She took it. I'm not sure if she should have given me a red card for two failed epees at that point—the first failed during the bout, so maybe it didn't count? She didn't dock me a point anyway. At that point I was out of epees but Joel happend to be there and saw, and he lent me two of his, thankfully. I used the one with a Dragonetti grip and went on to win the bout. [Later at home I discovered some of my Vinti epee's wire and spaghetti insulation had been smooshed between the socket and guard, causing a short. When I pulled off the insulation I managed to break the wire too, so I ended up doing a full rewire...seems good now though!]
So I ended up 2 and 4 in the pools. Not DFL and better than expected really. I didn't think I would get far in the DEs and sure enough I was paired with John Varney. I tried a defensive game, knowing he likes to pull back to his end of the strip. I made me come to me, hoping to duck his fleches and such. I also tried a few more offensive moves. I made a few points, but against John there was never much real hope. But I was content with how it all turned out.
A few other things from this tournament. Someone named Xian Chen Bu came in first place. He was rated U and by winning earned an A. Quite a jump. Recently he joined the Tacoma club and apparently doesn't speak English very well. There's a fencing.net thread about it. Apparently he was on the Chinese national team until recently: http://www.fencing.net/forums/thread72761.html
I'm glad I wasn't in his pool! David Robert was. The best fencer in that pool was supposed to be Cole Mallette, but Bu beat him 5-0, wow. Tough pool!
What else? Michael Orzechowski fenced Dmitriy from SAS. It was fun to watch, and fairly close, but Dmitriy won 15-11. He went on to fence Varney and won, 15-8. But then he had to face Bu and lost 15-6. Sam Larsen was there, my old clubmate. He fenced Aaron Page in the DEs, winning 15-9, then faced Cole Mallette. From what I understand Cole was one of the best fencers there but seemed not to be fencing his best. Maybe Bu threw him in the pools. Cole's first DE was against Heino Hulsey-Vincent, which he won 15-4. Then Luke LaRocque, which he won again, but closer, 11-8. Then Sam Larson and Cole fenced and Sam won by a large margin, 15-3. Sam went on to fence Ryan Arieta and lost 15-13.
I didn't get to watch, but Kaiden Crotchett won his first DE but then lost to Henry Cooney, 15-14. I kinda wished I was seen it. Yuly Suvorov, my clubmate won his first three DEs pretty easily, then had a tough one against John McDonald, who had just taken out Bela Suveg. Yuly won, 15-14. Then he fenced Sean Ameli and lost 15-7. Still, this meant Yuly came in 8th, earning his A, yay!
Travis Exum tied for the 2nd seed. He beat Craig Haworth 15-6, then a couple other people I don't know. Then he lost to Kyle Yamasaki, 15-7. Travis came in 5th overall, turning his A11 into an A14. What else? Jeramy Gee won his first DE, then lost to Kyle Yamasaki. Tobias beat David Robert 15-14 (yikes), then beat Barry Leonardini 15-8, then lost to Matthew Comes 15-5 (!). Matthew then lost to Kyle Yamasaki 15-4, wow. Dragonetti went far. He beat Cameron Brown 15-5 (I wish I'd seen that), then two people I don't know, then he beat Jay Slater 15-8 (again, wish I had seen it). Finally Kyle Yamasaki beat Dragonetti 15-10. Kyle then fenced Xian Chen Bu for 1st place. Bu won 15-9.
A lot of rating were given out, all the way down to Kyle Margolies, who won his first DE against John Comes. Kyle's E13 (which he got against me!) is now an E14. Tobias got his C14. Matthew Comes earned his B, not too surprising there. Dmitriy renewed his B.
