new FIE rules

[fluidfencer]

I received an email from a friend who is a USFA committee member. This person outlined several FIE rule changes that were recently approved (the last meeting). Most relate to changing timing and tip sensitivity. Before I post a copy, has anyone heard about this? Rumors of changes fly around all the time but the person who contacted me is certainly credible.

The thing that concerned me most was the implications of changing all the weapons and boxes to comply. This is a little more complicated than changing the stiffness of sabre blades several years ago.

[neevel]

Look back over the past month-- you'll find plenty about them. You'll find info straight from the horse's as...uh, mouth at http://www.fie.ch.

Any box I can think of designed within the past 15 years can be upgraded by replacing a firmware chip. For a few, like the Eigertek and Blue Sky, that upgrade chip will be free from the manufacturer. For others you'll have to pay something for a new chip (SWAG of anywhere from $25-$100, depending on how greedy they are and how many middlemen it goes through). Having tested timing changes close to what has been adopted for foil, they don't make a gigantic amount of difference. You should still be able to use un-upgraded boxes at club and at local tournaments without trouble.

These are all going to be implemented next season at Junior World Cup competitions _only_ (as a beta test of sorts), so unless you're going to be fencing at JWC events you won't need to worry about any of them for a couple of years at least. The new foil point is still only a proof-of-concept prototype-- the manufacturers will need to develop their own implementations of it and then start production.

-Dave

[laughingduelist]

As far as I know these changes are being implemented primarily to remove the flick as a viable attack in foil.