Hi Sean,
Well it's not that simple. 35" is around the critical length that you need
to attack with opposition, where your weapon can reach from his forte to his
body and sufficiently into it to do damage. Against cuts you really need all
the length you can get as your sword must physically be in his body and
parrying his sword at the same time. Against thrusts, as in Italian foil and
epee the angulation and the timing, the "picking up and riding in" of his
blade (to use an intensly technical term :-) ) allow you to get away with
attacks in opposition more often with a weapon right down at the critical
length. It's a complicated subject which I wrote a 12,000 word paper on in
SPADA, but suffice it to say that I wouldn't like to try counterthrusting in
opposition against a cut with a 35" blade. That's why I said that you
couldn't do it with any degree of certainty, not that you couldn't do it at
all.
Cheers
Stephen Hand
Stoccata School of Defence
http://www.stoccata.org
Chivalry Bookshelf
http://www.chivalrybookshelf.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Hayes" <seanhayes@northwestacademyofarms.com>
To: <classicalfencing@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 3:52 PM
Subject: Re: [CFML] Rapier fought like Foil ???
on 2/9/05 4:14 PM, Stephen Hand at
sjhand@bigpond.net.au wrote:
> It's complicated and depends very much on the style you use. A 35" blade
is
> too short to perform attacks in opposition with any degree of certainty,
> which is why rapier blades were longer.
Umm, Stephen? Classical Italian foil and epee using a 35" blade do attacks
and counterattacks (with opposition) just fine, thanks.
Sean
Sean Hayes
Maestro dıarmi
Northwest Academy of Arms
http://www.northwestacademyofarms.com/
"Popular is a tricky word. People in large numbers don't always have the
best taste." - Richard Thompson
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