We’ll be having the tournament at our Marquette practice space: 840 N. 16th St.  A map can be found here.

The doors will open at 9:00am for registration and equipment check.

Foil registration ends at 10:00, and the foil tournament will begin shortly thereafter.

Rapier registration ends at 1:00pm and the rapier tournament will begin shortly thereafter.

On Sunday we have the space until 2:00pm.  The sala will be open to fencing, lessons, and general socialization.

Registration costs:

Classical fencing society registration: $10

Non-CFS pre-registration: $15

Pre-registration ends on April 1st.  At the moment, pre-registration consists of emailing us atmilwaukeetourney@gmail.com and letting us know that you are attending.

Non-CFS registration at the door: $20

Please feel free to contact the organizers at milwaukeetourney@gmail.com with any questions or comments, particularly if you need help finding accomodations.  You can also find us on facebook.

Thus our tournament this year.  We primarily fence in the Italian school, and have been working, in the last few years, with some of the most iconic weapons of the Italian school of fencing: the foil, the late rapier (or dueling sword), and the sabre.  We’ve decided to try to get together Italian fencers of all types and see how the school has evolved over time.  You poor unfortunates who fence to other schools are also welcome to attend, of course.  Maybe we can convince you to switch sides.

Our plan is this: A foil tournament will be held on the morning of April 9th, and probably into the afternoon.  A rapier/smallsword tournament will be held in the afternoon.  And at the very end we’ll have an exhibition round-robin among the instructors with dueling sabre.  Sunday April 10th will be an open sala, meaning that the floor is open to fencing, lessons, and socialization.

Keep an eye out as we finalize details, and to learn all about how things work out.  We’d love to see you at the tourney, even if it’s just to watch.

Fifteen fencers from four different schools were present at Turner Hall on Saturday, with a variety of dueling swords.  The longest were several Darkwood smarra blades measuring 37 inches beyond the guard, and the shortest a Graves smallsword (which unfortunately an exact length was not obtained of).

The results:

First Place: Ryan Mank of Trovare di Spada (Classical Fencing Society St. Louis)

Second Place: Ben Mandlkern of Durendal Fencing Club Madison Wi.

Third Place: Joseph Dobbs of Classical Fencing Society Milwaukee

Thanks to all who participated, and attended.

A few photos and audio clips have been posted online.

Check it out here.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Despite the problems we have had with finding and securing a venue for our tournament, we have now got a guaranteed place and time in which to fence.

The schedule for the Fencing on the Frozen Tundra 2010 tournament is this:

Saturday, January 30th:

11:30: The doors open at Turner Hall gym, and registration opens.

12:30: Registration closes.  If you want to register at the door, please do so before this time.

12:30: The tournament begins.  Today we will finish the round robin bouts, and all of the preliminary rounds and re-entry rounds.

After the tournament: The floor is open for free fencing, training, conversation, etc.

8:00pm: Dinner.  Dinner has been moved to Molly Cool’s, cater-corner to Turner Hall, just a minute or two walk.

Sunday, January 31st:

9:00: Doors open at Turner Hall Ballroom

10:00: Fencing begins.  On Sunday we finish the tournament with all the direct elimination rounds.

After the tournament: Open floor for fencing, training, conversation, etc.

The address for Turner Hall is 1034 N. 4th St., Milwaukee, WI 53203

This is on 4th street in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, between State St. and Highland Ave.  To get there from outside of downtown, take I-43.  Get off on the McKinley Ave exit (Whether you’re coming from north or south).  Take a left off the exit, which will put you onto Park Freeway going east.  This will turn into McKinley Ave.  Shortly after that (second stop light from the highway exit), take a right on 4th st.    Go two blocks and Turner Hall should be on the left side of the street.

Turners’ Gym is in the basement of Turner Hall.  It has its own door which might be a little hard to spot.  The main entrance will take you into Turner restaurant, and to the Ballroom.  To get to the gym, however, there is another door to the left of the main entrance as you’re facing the building.

There are also Locker rooms and Showers available for men and women at Turner Hall Gym.

Any questions as to directions or any other issues should be directed either at the comments below, or to milwaukeetourney@gmail.com

This is the most straightforward and intuitive of the incontri. If both fencers attack at the same time without making any attempt to protect themselves, they are both at fault.

EDITED Video posted

The text reads: “When, during an attack with an advance, the attacker stops or hesitates after the first step, and then invites or feints, thus provoking a counterattack, he is in error.”

This is perhaps the most complicated of the incontri. It defines the priority of entering into distance while making an attack. Implicitly, what this is saying is that the attack must be a single uninterrupted action. As long as it meets the other requirements for priority (line, time, and measure), the advancing attack has priority. However, if the advancing fencer pauses upon entering into distance, his attack has ended, and he no longer has priority. Any attack made after this pause is a second, separate attack, for which priority has to be established anew.