Grounded Strips

[Fishkillfencers]

If you're considering portable strips, forget aluminum and copper - check out the Artos strip:

http://www.physicalchess.com/Detail....DUCT_ID=PCSTP5

They're light enough for one person to carry, grounded, easy to set up (5 minutes) and a pleasure to fence on. The only down side is the price ($2400) which is why we only have one. We use gaffers tape on the ends, and the rubber underside is safe for floors.

We bring it to division events (Woodstock last weekend, RPI this Saturday), and we have an epee tournament every month:

http://www.geocities.com/fishkillfencers/schedule.html

[RoninX]

Strips are big and bulky, and heavy but in school we would throw the 5-6 we had in the back of a van. Two people can carry a strip easily and I and several other people on our team could carry one by themselves. It didn't take much longer to load or unload because of strips. They do take tim to lay down but I for one would rather pay $15-20 to fence at a grounded tourney than $10 at an ungrounded one.

Again, for your average local tourney not having strips is no big deal but I was just surprised that so few seemed to be in use.

Seak: that is one snazzy facility you guys have.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by seak

Several people in this thread have said that while there club doesn't have metal strips for large tournaments they are able to procure them. So how did you go about doing it? Are you getting them from a vendor? How are you getting them to the location? etc

Renting/borrowing from local clubs/schools that do have them is a common method.

Vans and a couple people are all they take to transport, but it's still a hassle.

-B

[seak]

Originally Posted by oiuyt

Renting/borrowing from local clubs/schools that do have them is a common method.

Vans and a couple people are all they take to transport, but it's still a hassle.

Dang, one club that's close has grounded strips but they're in the ground. I think the closest place with movable strips might be Temple : )

The division owns a couple that are movable but they are unusable (we've tried)

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by seak

Dang, one club that's close has grounded strips but they're in the ground. I think the closest place with movable strips might be Temple : )

Ours are moveable but not available. We have a number that are unuseable and most of the rest are close enough that they only come out a couple of times a year to delay the date at which they achieve that dubious status.

-B

[seak]

Originally Posted by oiuyt

Ours are moveable but not available. We have a number that are unuseable and most of the rest are close enough that they only come out a couple of times a year to delay the date at which they achieve that dubious status.

:laughs: I didn't think they were available, more pointing out the impracticality of us borrowing strips from other clubs. Now of course if you had responded that they were available and you could bring some, capitol division would have owed you an eternal debt of gratitude

[jjefferies]

Originally Posted by Josephine25

We pratice in a school gym and you expect grounded strips?

Man, I'd be happy just to get the strips marked in permanently.

[PalmFrond]

Tch. One of the clubs at which I train recently got boxes with the new foil and sabre timings. We're delighted with them, never mind our lack of pistes. Kids these days!

BTW, I second the Artos recommendation. Light, relatively easy to store, easy to set up.

[larkmaj]

Originally Posted by Fishkillfencers

We bring it to division events (Woodstock last weekend, RPI this Saturday)

Which means we will have one grounded strip for our tournament, we would think about getting one for ourselves, but we have absolutely no place to put it. That is the major issue we have.

[HDG]

I'm kind of surprised by what I'm reading in this thread. In Florida, which is real damn far from being the heartland of fencing in the US, all three divisions have full complements of strips. Some of them aren't looking too good anymore, but they all work. In our division, my club holds the strips on behalf of the division (we've got storage space) and a day or two before any tournament someone from the host club comes and picks them up.

[RoninX]

Originally Posted by larkmaj

Which means we will have one grounded strip for our tournament, we would think about getting one for ourselves, but we have absolutely no place to put it. That is the major issue we have.

Roll up strips are not that big. 4ft wide or so and 8-12" in diameter? You have no storage facilities? Heck, it would even fit in some lockers! Maybe there is some club or sport that would let you keep 1-2 strips along with there stuff?

[Dr. Pfleschbach]

Originally Posted by darius

Lots of questions there:

Where would they be stored? Who would ensure they get to every event? (Copper strips are heavy and huge; sectional ones even more so!)


darius

My division also has several copper strips and I can tell you where they are stored at this particular time - in my garage. They have been making the circuit from one sucker's garage to another for years and only make it to at best one tournament a season. They are very heavy and take two or more people to lift. I can't ever get anyone to come over to help me get them in my truck, and even if I could, no one wants to bother taking the time to set them up. They also are a lot of work to keep repaired. As far as I'm concerned they would be better off sold for scrap, but every time that is suggested, the fencers who have never had to deal with them go ballistic. Right now I'm trying to get one of those enthusiastic fencers to agree to store the strips in their garage so I can use mine for what it was originally intended for.

[larkmaj]

Originally Posted by RoninX

Roll up strips are not that big. 4ft wide or so and 8-12" in diameter? You have no storage facilities? Heck, it would even fit in some lockers! Maybe there is some club or sport that would let you keep 1-2 strips along with there stuff?

Other clubs being generous about storage space? That's funny. We tried asking the serious service fraternity if we could use their storage space which is right next to ours, which had obviously not been entered in quite a few years. They didn't know they had it until we asked them, and then turned us down.

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by Dr. Pfleschbach

Right now I'm trying to get one of those enthusiastic fencers to agree to store the strips in their garage so I can use mine for what it was originally intended for.

Power tools "borrowed" from your neighbor? :)

-B

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by RoninX

Roll up strips are not that big. 4ft wide or so

One would hope a bit wider than that...

-B

[Allen Evans]

Originally Posted by RoninX

Maybe I am spoiled after fencing in college but out here in Seattle even the nicest clubs don't seem to have grounded strips that they roll out for tourneys. Now, I understand they are very expensive but I find this totally bizarre.

The second incarnation of Salle Auriol Seattle had aluminum strips, set into the floor and grounded. These strips were a source of constant complaint because of the way they chewed through $200 a pair fencing shoes. Plus, it proved to be remarkably difficult to keep them grounded to the over head reels. They were eventually taken out.

The newer metal strips are probably easier on shoes (and certainly have to be easier to set into a floor). But what are they, about $2,000 a piece? And the new Salle Auriol Seattle has what - 18 strips? As a friend of mine once said: "Hey, you want metal strips? Write me a check!".

[RoninX]

Originally Posted by Allen Evans

The second incarnation of Salle Auriol Seattle had aluminum strips ... And the new Salle Auriol Seattle has what - 18 strips? As a friend of mine once said: "Hey, you want metal strips? Write me a check!".

Yeah I fenced at the old SAS location over a couple of summers 6-7 years ago or so, and I wasn't fencing heavily but did notice some wear on the old peds.

As to the cost, as I've said before, I am already writing checks to participate in tourneys and would galdly pay $20 rather than $10 if I thought the extra was going to buy strips for the hosting club. Even s few small 25 person tourneyd can raise $2000 pretty quickly that way and I don't think $20 is too expensive for a tourney either. In MI in college (several years ago now) the USFA tourneys I went to were frequently $20-$25. Maybe that is the problem with clubs in the WWD, were all not charging enough to afford to fence on nicer stuff.

[oso97]

Originally Posted by RoninX

Even s few small 25 person tourneyd can raise $2000 pretty quickly that way and I don't think $20 is too expensive for a tourney either.

Sure, maybe in a world where you don't have to pay referees, armourers or bout committee officials, and get your venue and all scoring equipment for free.

Getting the venue and scoring equipment for free are possible, depending on your arrangements with local entitites. But in my experience, you get exactly what you pay for when you go cheap on referees, armourers and BC folks. Hosting tournaments is NOT a money-making proposition for the most part. There are VERY few events I will even consider suggesting my students to attend that I know the host club is out to make money first and foremost. And that's because the hosting entity has taken the time over many seasons to develop a good tournament that draws lots of people and they don't skimp on the resources.

[dberke]

Originally Posted by RoninX

Yeah I fenced at the old SAS location over a couple of summers 6-7 years ago or so, and I wasn't fencing heavily but did notice some wear on the old peds.

As to the cost, as I've said before, I am already writing checks to participate in tourneys and would galdly pay $20 rather than $10 if I thought the extra was going to buy strips for the hosting club. Even s few small 25 person tourneyd can raise $2000 pretty quickly that way and I don't think $20 is too expensive for a tourney either. In MI in college (several years ago now) the USFA tourneys I went to were frequently $20-$25. Maybe that is the problem with clubs in the WWD, were all not charging enough to afford to fence on nicer stuff.

In my experience here in Seattle, I think people would balk at entry fees over about $20. In fact, prior to this year, most local tournaments just had a $5 entry fee. Most are now $10 in order to help pay for the new facilities.

In the case of events run by the division (rather than by one of the clubs), we've been experimenting with different pricing levels. We've generally settled in the $20 range. I feel that anything higher than that tends to depress turnout. We don't want to discourage some of the newer fencers from coming - people who see it as paying $20 to get their butt kicked.

When we do charge more, we invest the money in what the membership asks for. a few years back we spent the money buying new scoring machines and reels. Now that we have enough of those, we've been experimenting with bringing in high-level referees from out-of-state. I feel that that is a better use of the revenue since it brings up the overall quality level of our events. Metal strips, while nice, aren't often listed as things the WWD membership desires. More referees, however, gets mentioned often.

Dan

[RoninX]

Originally Posted by oso97

Sure, maybe in a world where you don't have to pay referees, armourers or bout committee officials, and get your venue and all scoring equipment for free.

Getting the venue and scoring equipment for free are possible, depending on your arrangements with local entitites. But in my experience, you get exactly what you pay for when you go cheap on referees, armourers and BC folks. Hosting tournaments is NOT a money-making proposition for the most part. There are VERY few events I will even consider suggesting my students to attend that I know the host club is out to make money first and foremost. And that's because the hosting entity has taken the time over many seasons to develop a good tournament that draws lots of people and they don't skimp on the resources.

Fair enough, but its not like the club officers are lining their pockets (hopefully) it is to get equipment to improve the tourney experience in the future, no?

IMHO getting proper equipment, and strips ARE proper equipment, should not be viewed askance by the fencing community. I mean what if your club only had refs for the final bout, all the rest was left up to the competitors to figure out for themselves - BUT they only charged a $2 entry fee. Would a club charging $10-15 because they wanted refs be chastised?