Last week we noticed that William wanted to get his point low very quickly to defend, and slice off from below his opponent's weapon; Ludwig and Katherina wanted to keep their hilts low, and slice off above. This week we'd all swapped technique! After much talking, we worked out why (thanks to Emrys for this expression of it):
Elisabeth is making great progress on her Dorothea Sabina dress. She's nearly finished the petticoat, and has begun cutting and fitting the bodice and sleeves, with Caterine's help. With luck (and lots of sewing) it will be wearable at St Catherine's Feast.
The rest of us worked on less exciting things: Eleanor felling seams, Marie naalbinding a hat and embroidering a tunic for Olaf, Katherina edging her arming cap, and William planning a new fencing suit.
Matt teaching beginners; David teaching this portion; Katherine's notes.
Back and forth across the room, making cuts instead of our usual thrusts / plain steps; first advancing directly, then moving off-line for each cut.
Katherine's notes; Matt and David teaching (mostly).
That's all so far: we worked through the first play in the second part of Meyer's rapier section. It's really long (about 8 moves each), and falls into two main parts. All the usual confusions apply: he tells you what "you" are doing, but not so much about what "they" are doing; we'd like more detail on the footwork; he often leaves out the instruction "while rocking back".
More detail later.
Revision of basics of Meyer's Rapier:
