'99 Duel by the River

On 4 Sep 1999, the Boston University Fencing Club held their annual Duel by the River tournament. The RPI Fencing Club was represented by Mike Macri and myself. This tournament was different form a normal tournament in several respects. It was epée only and was fenced outside on the grass (or mud depending which strip you were on). The big difference though was that the bouts were fenced to only one touch. If there was a double touch then both people lost. In normal tournaments bouts in the seating round are fenced to 5 touches and direct elimination (D.E.) bouts are fenced to 15. The one touch format makes the tournament run much quicker (we started at 10 AM and were done by 1 PM), but luck plays a much bigger role and you don't have time to feel out your opponent.

Here Mike and I are warming up for the tournament. For some reason I always do much better against him during warm-ups than during the actual tournament.

Here I am all suited up and ready to go. The piece of paper in my hand is the score card. You fenced everyone in the first round and then they set up the D.E. ladder based on the results.

Mike was my first bout. Normally a one touch bout would be over quickly, but not against Mike. Though in this case the delaying factor was equipment not Mike's slow and steady fencing style. The box sounded like someone had landed a touch but the lights couldn't be seen in the sunlight. The director couldn't tell if a touch had been scored or something else had happened so she threw it out. Mike wound up winning. Later Mike admitted that he thought it was my touch. He has since denied this fact. My parents have videotape footage though were you can hear the box going off after I attack at Mike. Unfortunately, Mike was off screen so it is still inconclusive.

As with any tournament there is always a lot of waiting around. With 15 people to fence and only three strips going we wound up waiting more than fencing.

Me in another bout. One problem with fencing at RPI is that most people are shorter than me and no one moves very fast. This guy was both tall and fast.

This bout took a long time as well. This time though it was my weapon not the box causing problems. My opponent decided to flèche and as he went by he stepped on my weapon. Epée points don't like being buried in the ground. I had to switch weapons but eventually won the bout. My original weapon was never quite the same though.

Here are two more of my bouts. In the bottom one we are just about to test bell guards and start. Before you actually start to fence you have to test bell guards to make sure they are grounded. You don't want the other person to be able to get a point by hitting your guard.

Here is Mike in another of his bouts. The sticker on his mask is a number. Rather than put everyone's names on the score card they assigned everyone a number. It made it much easier to figure out who you still had to fence. Most people removed their numbers soon after the tournament. Mike still had his on well into October. I think there are probably still little pieces of the sticker on his mask.

Yet more waiting. The waiting wouldn't have been to bad but it was rather warm that day and fencing jackets are not very cool.

This is what happens when an eight year old girl has to wait around watching a fencing tournament in the hot sun.

Here I am in my first and final D.E. bout. Why did it have to be a lefty? For some reason I keep getting lefties in my D.E. bouts. I hate lefties. They are sinister.

Here I am posing with Lizzy at a sculpture near where we were fencing. The tournament was fun and I did pretty good if you don't count those sinister lefties. In the first round Mike had only one more win than I did. However I managed to beat Becca. Mike didn't. Becca is a friend of his and he has problems beating her. That fact alone made up for losing to a lefty.