Measuring blade bend?

According to the "New Rules, effective August 1, 2002,"

"An immediate warning (1st group) will be given against the competitor
whose blade is bent more than the rules allow (1 cm for épée, 2 cm for
foil, 4 cm for saber) at the moment the fencer indicates that she or he
is ready to fence."

First of all, is this rule being enforced?

Secondly, what is the approved method of judging the degree of bend in
the weapon? Is the referee expected to eye it up each time, and then do
an official measurement if it looks like it's too much?

I guess it seems a little silly to me.

--Harold Buck


"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck wrote:

> According to the "New Rules, effective August 1, 2002,"
>
> "An immediate warning (1st group) will be given against the competitor
> whose blade is bent more than the rules allow (1 cm for épée, 2 cm for
> foil, 4 cm for saber) at the moment the fencer indicates that she or he
> is ready to fence."
>
> First of all, is this rule being enforced?

I fence with an almost completely straight sabre blade, and not a whole lot
of a bend in my foil blade, so this is something I haven't had affect me a
whole lot, but from what I've seen, it is being enforced at least
moderately. I've been told to straighten my foil blade a couple of times,
when it got bent more than usual from a hit; I haven't been carded, but
that's most likely because a) it was a local event, and b) it was clear
that it was something incidental that happened during the bout, not
something I was trying to get away with. I'd be fine with being carded for
it, though - it's something that I'm supposed to be aware of.

Personally, I am very glad of this rule. Granted, the 2000 blades in sabre
solved much of the problem in *that* weapon, but oh boy, do I remember the
days of blades that were hooked like scythes. And I used to see a whole lot
of hooky foil blades, much more recently. I think it makes for a cleaner
phrase and higher quality action when the bend is kept within reasonable
parameters.

> Secondly, what is the approved method of judging the degree of bend in
> the weapon? Is the referee expected to eye it up each time, and then do
> an official measurement if it looks like it's too much?
>
> I guess it seems a little silly to me.

At Nationals last year, the referees had these cool little wooden cubes,
shaped so that depending on how you rotated them, you could have a 1 cm, 2
cm, or 4 cm-tall block. As far as I could tell, the referees were using the
basic eyeball rule and if it looked too bent, just set the offending weapon
on a flat surface and pushed the cube under it. If the cube fits underneath
the curve, the blade's too bent.

It seemed pretty straightforward, and I think the fact that they *could*
check the blades, meant that most people made sure to keep their blades
straight, at least at the beginning of the bout. It is a bit annoying to
have people (foilists) with those really soft blades, which bent
excessively after every touch... and then didn't straighten them.
Fortunately, there weren't that many of them, and I'm not too shy to speak
up and point out a too-bent blade (politely, of course).

Cheers,
Holly

> According to the "New Rules, effective August 1, 2002,"
>
> "An immediate warning (1st group) will be given against the competitor
> whose blade is bent more than the rules allow (1 cm for épée, 2 cm for
> foil, 4 cm for saber) at the moment the fencer indicates that she or he
> is ready to fence."
>
> First of all, is this rule being enforced?

I've seen it called once. I've seen it not called quite often.

I would lean towards not very often.

-Bill

In article <no_one_knows-66D6BB.17031020032004@comcast.ash.giganews.com>,
Harold Buck <no_one_knows@attbi.com> writes:

>
>First of all, is this rule being enforced?
>

When a referee goes to a NAC a member of the FOC gives a lecture at 8
AM on what rules are going to be emphasized at that NAC. Every time it is a
different person and different rules are emphasized.

So, if this is a NAC where it is emphasized, it will be strictly enforced. If
not, perhaps not. But then you have the occasional ref with a hare across his
rump who calls it every time.

I would be unlikely to call it too often unless it was extreme, or I thought
the fencer was trying to get an advantage from it, or I thought the fencer was
doing it intentionally. If there was a fencer who flicked a lot, I might
emphasize it more.



Bill Hall