Random Badass Encounter #2 (Vancouver edition)

As I was walking down the street with Peter and Mayui, on our way to some mind-blowing gelato from Bella Gelateria, I managed to get us lost. But sometimes the fun of getting a little lost are the gems you find along the way. And on this night, it was Renaissance sword fighting.


That's right. Walking along Hastings St. near Gastown, we encountered the Academie Duello for Swordplay. Through its big windows along the street, it was easy to see that the people inside were actually practicing sword fighting. Without further ado, we walked in, inquired about an intro class, and set a date and time for it.

When we took our lesson, we got a chance to get a taste of what all those people were doing when they were dueling with swords. Our weapon was the rapiers. Rapiers are those swords with the ornate guards. It's a thinner blade more geared towards stabbing than slashing. They look like this:

Not too surprisingly, the class was filled with guys (with one token girl). Nerdy guys. Felt like a flashback to high school days. But what we got to learn was really cool. Beyond the proper way to hold the sword, the height and angle to keep it for general defense, and lunges, I found the most interesting part of the lesson to be the physics behind the actual sword play.

Have you ever heard the term, "gaining your opponent's sword"? Well, it essentially is a combination of angles and leverage by which you gain the upper hand in the encounter. The first step is crossing your opponent's sword. There are two components to this. You ideally want to cross swords at a point of the sword where you are strong, and the opponent is weak. Technically in sword play, I believe they split the sword into four sections (the weakest section being the tip and the strongest section near the hilt). However for the purposes of this class, we only needed two: debole (top half of the sword, weak), and forte (bottom half of the sword, strong). As the attacker, you would want to leverage your forte against your opponent's debole. You also want to angle your sword relative to your opponent such that he will not be able to actually lunge and hit you because the blade would slide past you.

There are also elements in the hilt of the rapier that assist in forcing your opponents blade along a certain track. This in combination with a properly executed lunge would allow you to make the hit, and force your opponent's blade to slide harmlessly past.

What excited me about all of this was two things. First of all that it was a Random Badass Encounter, because we never would've found this place if I hadn't gotten us lost. Second, that there was so much more behind a duel that I had never contemplated, and the class really enriched my appreciation of good fencing.

Below a little pic of Peter and I goofing around after class:

Would I want to continue Renaissance sword fighting? Absolutely not. The stances and positions look way too dandy. But would I be interested in learning a different art of the sword. Without a doubt yes. Now to look for lessons in wielding a katana...