Open fencing at RCFC

Thanks to Jeff's prodding and my long interest in trying it, I finally got around to an evening of open epee at Rain City Fencing Center. It was great—getting to fence, in a non-tournament setting, people I've only fenced in tournaments, if at all. Jeff had given me the idea there might be quite a bit fewer fencers than at an SAS open fencing evening, but there was a good bunch. I was at least familiar with most of them, and most seemed eager to fence me—probably for the same reason I was eager: fresh blood! So I ended up working hard with just a few short breaks. It was all very enjoyable. I liked getting to know some of these people a bit better—tournaments are not as social as open fencing. I learned some things and did pretty well too, I think.

I thought I'd mention here who I fenced, because I'm sure I'll forget in time. Wulf Carson and I fenced first, and for quite a while. We hadn't fenced before but I had watched him come in second place in a vet tournament at RCFC a while back. After that I was a bit tired, but Hans Engel asked to fence and how could I turn that down? Then Luke LaRocque asked. I needed a couple minutes, but then we were up and fenced about 30 or so touches. We've fenced in tournaments a few times recently and have each won some and lost some. He said he wanted to figure out my...I forget exactly how he phrased it, but something like "fluid low line attacks". And I wanted to figure him out more. We had a fun bout, and pretty evenly matched, I think.

Then there was a bit of chatting with Jeff, Carlo, and Wulf—with me, the old guys. Although they kept saying I was the youngster—which...I guess, I'm about ten years younger, but still a lot older than most of the RCFC kids, like Hans and Luke (I only just realized how well their names go together). Then I fenced Carlo Malaguzzi. I think I'd only fenced him once before, in 2014 Leon Open DE, I think. He destroyed me then. I did somewhat better tonight. After that the place was starting to empty out, but Andrea Matessi was still there, so we fenced a while. We never had before, and had never properly met, although we both recognized each other from tournaments. He's quite good, so that was a nice learning bout. Finally Jeff Lucas and I fenced and the evening was over. Good fun. Will have to do it again sometime.