Simon's Épée
Mightier perhaps
Tonight's unedifying episode of Simon Chooses a Fountain Pen is instead, a sword.
Specifically my sword, a pistol grip épée. But I'll get to that in a minute.
A few hours from now the fencing will commence at the Grand Palais, perhaps the finest venue in the world. I'll be tuning in and I hope you will, too. Here's a quick primer:
There are twelve events (men's, women's, teams) in total for the three swords that will feature: Foil, Épée, Sabre.
• The Foil is a thrusting weapon, flexible and the lightest. Points are scored with the tip anywhere on the opponent's torso.
• The Épée is a thrusting weapon, the heaviest of the three. It is the weapon of choice for a gentleman and I'm not one but favour it anyway. Points are scored with the tip anywhere on the opponent's body.
• The Sabre is a slashing weapon. Heavier than the Foil but lighter than the Épée, points are scored with the blade as well as the point, anywhere except the opponent's arms and legs.
If you're wondering why there's a difference in target area, wonder no longer: in real life getting pinpricked on the forearm with a Foil or slashed on the thigh with a Sabre is a whole different story to getting kebabed by Simon's Épée.
In all three disciplines the contenders have a choice of grip: French or Pistol. The difference is reach versus control. A French grip is the straight handle you've always seen on a sword. The advantage is the fighter can increase her reach by moving her hand backwards until she's only grasping the pommel, at the cost of accuracy with the blade. The pistol grip is the opposite, sacrificing reach for precision.
There's an adage in fencing;
Foil is art,
Sabre is theatre,
Épée is truth.
One of the reasons for this is the right of way rule that applies in Foil and Sabre which typically requires judges' adjudication. The rule is difficult to explain but you'll understand it when you see it. We don't have the right of way rule in Épée and judges are, in my opinion, mostly superfluous. Épéeists are quite capable of determining that our opponent has a brand new hole in him, all by ourselves.
For the vaguely interested spectator I recommend the Épée and Foil individual events, both men's and women's. The team events and the Sabre are less enthralling and missable, in my opinion.
-SRA. Auckland, 27/vii 2024.