CCF has published Patrick’s Montreal Fencing Handbook to the new documents section of our blog. This 80-page document provides an excellent introduction to classical French fencing as practiced at CCF. When a beginner needs a clarification of a curricular issue, or you are looking for the historical context of a weapon, or you simply need to check a term, then this manual will be of assistance.
When appropriate, other reference material will be published online.
Due to many CCF club members attending the Sentiment Du Fer event hosted by our neighboring salle, Baited Blade, fencing is cancelled for Saturday September 14, 2013. Patrick will attempt to schedule a makeup class in the future.
Given our recent examination of the dueling sword, I thought a look at some video footage of historic duels would be of interest. If you are not familiar with the videos republished by YouTube user schlager7, they demonstrate interesting and very real examples of duels.
This is a video playlist showing clips of several duels, ranging in time from 1911 to 1967. The dueling varies in style (an interesting aspect in itself) and the footage varies in clarity. Several bear watermarks.
There will be no fencing this Thursday, July 4th. Classes will resume, and dues will be collected, on Saturday, July 6th. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!
Recent & upcoming events have brought variety to the CCF salle. In May, Patrick presented at the Quebec Historical Martial Arts Seminar (Recontre des Arts Martiaux Historiques du Québec) where he shared classical French foil techniques with a largely historic fencing crowd. While there, he participated in a Rondel dagger class and brought back some techniques to CCF.
Recently, CCF began to set aside la canne instruction and turn attention to the dueling sword under Patrick’s tutelage. Although we will continue to periodically hone our skills in various weapons for a portion of each practice session, dueling sword will be the main emphasis.
This Thursday is Fight Night! All weapons will be used as we prepare for Saturday’s event. On Saturday May 29th, CCF will host several members of Baited Blade from St. Peters, Missouri. We will suspend our routine on Saturday for an extended bouting with our classical fencing neighbors from 2:00 to approximately 5:00 PM. In addition, Baited Blade will have information available about their forthcoming Sentiment du Fer event in September.
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