Fencing

Saturday 12^th October

Queen Victoria offers fencing lessons at 9am on sea days. I have never been up in time to try one out, much as I would like to. Today we left Istanbul at midday, so a fencing lesson was scheduled for 2pm. I tried it out.

While Dave fetched the equipment (his schedule had him down for Baggo so he arrived slightly late) he set us to practising our footwork. One gentleman showed me the basic following and leading steps. Evidently they had practised footwork for two sessions before picking up a foil. When Dave brought the equipment, we suited up. First was a white jacket, with plastic ‘cup’ chest protectors for the ladies, that sit inside little pockets on the inside. The jacket is done up at the back by one’s partner. A cord goes between the legs and does up at the back to hold the jacket down. Next is a helmet, then one glove (for the hand that holds the foil), and the foil.

We sat and watched in turn as two people sparred.

I was the fourth and last couple. Each couple had a different challenge, depending on ability. For the first half of my turn I had to defend by moving back and forwards, mirroring my partner. His steps were longer than mine, so as he came closer he could lunge to ‘kill’ me. When it was my turn to attack I found that I was moving faster, so I could probably have ‘killed’ him that way. Later I was told that I had excellent footwork and a learned observer was surprised that I was a beginner. However, it went wrong in my second bout when I had to parry and lunge. I couldn’t multitask. The feet were fine but I couldn’t coordinate my hand with it all. It was a lot of fun!