EDITORIAL
Hello again and welcome to this, the 1st Edition of REPRISE for 2002. Spring is almost here and the weather SHOULD be getting warmer, so I thought I’d put on my shades, settle back and watch the fencing articles come rolling in ... one of my New Year resolutions; not have to work so hard at this magazine! Lets see if I can actually stick to it then!
By the time this edition goes out the fencing season will be well underway ... the Command Championships have been and gone, the civilian season has seen the Scottish Open, Aldershot Open, Slough Open and the Hampshire Open... and those are just the ones I have either entered or heard about. Lots of quality fencing to get your teeth into out there.

So, what have I got in store for you in this bumper, action packed edition? Three members of RAFFU (myself included, nar nar nar nar nar!) were fortunate enough to be selected to compete for a Combined Services team at a competition in Canada, and so a report on what went on “over the pond” is included here. I’ve also been deluged with responses for the Caption Competition ... I knew that perseverance was the key! We’ve also got match reports from the Scottish and Aldershot Opens and how the few RAF fencers got on at those events. ... as well as the first in a series of articles on Armouring ... phew! Can I fit it all in? Of course I can ... Can Do and Will Do are my middle names ... and yes, I’ve resented my parents for saddling me with them ever since!! Enjoy!

THREE GO TO CANADA
by Phil McNulty

The phone rang ...

“Hi Phil, this is Ashley. Would you be interested in taking part in a fencing competition in Canada?”
“Why I believe the answer to that would be a resounding “Yes!””
“You’re going to be looking at a personal contribution of around £500 ... still interested?”
“Hmmm ... £500 you say? For a trip to Canada, you say? In that case I believe the answer is still a “Hell yes!” When?”
“First week in November ... will that be all right with Mrs Editor?”
Grinning widely, by this point. “Of course it will!”

Thus began what was to be an excellent tour as part of a Combined Services squad that made their way to the Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario. This is their story ...

After all the monetary concerns had been finalized, including a contribution from RAFFU of £100 per team member, final team selection was made and so myself, Ann Gibson and Dave Long found ourselves assembled at Heathrow Airport early on the morning of 1 Nov for our flight out to Canada. With some cracking in flight entertainment and a high excitement level it was nigh on impossible to sleep on the plane and we were still excited upon our arrival in Canada. Perhaps that’s why we stood for 20 minutes in the wrong place waiting for our transport to the hire car company’s offices? Suitably abashed, we then collected our transportation for the weekend, two mini-vans, one capably driven by Ann. After a short stop on the journey for refreshments, including an introduction to those great Western delicacies, the burger and the doughnut, we finally arrived at Kingston. To say the entire team were pleasantly surprised to find that the Junior Rank Transit accommodation allocated to us for the duration of our stay was of exceptional quality with TV, coffee-maker and double bed as standard would be an understatement. Compared to the standard of transit offered in this country we were in a palace! It had been a long old day, and with the time difference of –5 hours there was still sufficient time for us to do what fencers do so well ... partake of the local hostelries!

A short drive back into Kingston town (isn’t that a song?) saw us comfortably entrenched in the local cigar bar, proudly showing off our British accents to all who could hear! Some gentle questioning of the barmaid and other locals then pointed us in the general direction of some livelier and (more importantly) later closing establishments. It was whilst making our way to these establishments that we happened to walk past a poster advertising what was to become our Friday night’s entertainment ... but that’s a little later in this tale.

Due to the time differences, the Friday was allocated to “jet lag recovery”, giving the team a chance to do that other thing that you should always do when abroad ... shopping. With the lack of messing facilities with the accommodation, the day began with a short walk out of the camp gates to find ... lo and behold ... a McDonalds restaurant. So that took care of breakfast for that day ... and every subsequent day of the trip as it turned out. Who says that fencers don’t know how to eat a balanced diet? And just across from the McDonalds was the PX, so all the shopaholics got an early fix before we’d even made it into town. But make it into town we eventually did, and it was once more time to show off our British accents as we wandered aimlessly through Kingston. First stop though was en masse to the night club we’d passed the night before. Shortly thereafter the entire team were armed with tickets to see ... drum roll ... Bjorn Again. That’s right. How were we going to spend our Friday night? Listening to a dodgy Abba tribute band ... life surely is good!

After this it was time to shop in earnest, and being the nice, caring, sharing, adoring husband that I am (Ha! Mrs Editor) I found myself in a perfume shop. One rather large bottle of Chanel No.5 later and my feelings of guilt were slightly assuaged; not only had Mrs Editor let me come to Canada for fencing, she’d let me come after missing her birthday the week before because I’d been fencing! What an understanding woman!

So, after a visit to the Sports Hall where the actual fencing was to take place, it was time to get ready for dinner and the big “Abba extravaganza”. Once the band started though, all thoughts of cheesy 70’s music fled ... they were brilliant! In fact they must have been fantastic because, not only did I get on down and boogie, so did Ann! How many of you can remember EVER seeing Ann Gibson dance? And not only that, but she smiled ALL night ... and sang to every song ... but then again, we all were!!! The highlight for me though was when the women went off to get changed into something a little more skimpy (woo hoo) ... and the men gave an impromptu rendition of Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi (complete with guitar solo!). So, the music was great, the atmosphere was great ... what was missing? Ah yes ... roll on that most gracious of all creatures, the Canadian female. Her name was Renee. She spied her man at the bar and like a timberwolf closed in on her prey ... luckily for Dave though I was in a good mood and decided to rescue him. Not so lucky for the Army contingent of our team as myself and Dave introduced Renee to them with the words “And these are British soldiers.” before beating a hasty retreat!

OK, so that was the team bonding rituals completed and it was onto the actual fencing, for after all, wasn’t that why we were there? Saturday brought the opening day of the competition and with over 30 teams in each event it was to prove to be a long day. In the Ladies Epee, Ann and her team-mates did extremely well, being seeded comfortably in the top half of the Direct Elimination tableaux. A convincing victory in the first round of DE, with Ann and the others raising their game to match the occasion, then saw them move into the last 8 where a spirited fight against the eventual winners saw them drop out 45-42 to finish in 6th place.

In the Men's Foil, Dave and myself along with our Navy team-mate, Mark “Ninja” Needham, were fencing well, narrowly losing our first matches but winning our 3rd to achieve a seeding of 15th thanks to our high scoring matches. The first round of DE saw us easily move into the last 16 with a convincing win over our opponents, but then found ourselves, as in the women's event, facing the eventual winners in the next DE round. This team was indeed world class, but were given slight cause for concern when, comfortably ahead in the match, they brought on their substitute; and I proceeded to take 13 points off the young man in the next 4 minutes! As our opponents held on to win the match 45-40 the relief was evident on their faces, but Dave and I were more than happy to finish in 14th place.

So, a full days fencing (and we mean full ... it was 8pm by the time we left the gym) over and another night out. Were we tired? Some of us were, particularly as I had developed a cold by this point, and falling asleep in the restaurant whilst waiting to order is possibly one indication of how tired ... but at least I was woken pleasantly by a kiss on the cheek from one of our lady fencers and a flash as the picture was taken! Dave and several of the others were not competing the next day, so they proceeded to head off into deepest, darkest Kingston again ... whilst the rest of us retreated to our beds for the next days sabre competition.

The next day brought both the Ladies and Men's Sabre events and again there was an extremely large entry. I and my Navy team-mates found ourselves starting the day extremely well, comfortably winning 2 of our first 3 matches to achieve a seeding of 12th. The first round of DE saw us easily move onto the next round with a high standard of fencing being displayed by the whole team. The next round of DE was to prove incident packed, most notably for one of the opposition claiming to have been struck on the mask by a coquille. The subsequent histrionics were noticed and recognised by many of the Canadian fencers as common-place from the fencer concerned, and indeed meant that we sabreurs then gathered a large and impressive collection of supporters from the Canadian ranks! Dave, by now supporting us too, gave me several words of encouragement; most notably “When you hit him, laugh! He’ll get upset!”. Sure enough, it worked and in what was obviously a habit developed over the weekend, I then proceeded to take 13 points off the fencer concerned, converting a 7 point deficit into a 3 point lead, much to the delight of the watching crowd, and giving me just a hint of satisfaction too! Unfortunately the opposition's tail-end fencer was the Canadian champion and we eventually lost the match 45-43 to finish in 11th place.

In the Ladies event, Ann and her team-mates had started off extremely well, winning all of their matches in the seeding rounds. This good start was swiftly followed by 2 impressive DE matches with Ann showing the form that had made her Master Swordswoman at the Inter-Services, leading the team by example as they swept their way into a semi-final match against the Ladies from West Point. This match went point for point as Ann and the ladies battled toe-to-toe and showed some excellent examples of sabre fencing by all concerned. Unfortunately for the ladies of West Point the Combined Services team obviously wanted to win more, going through 45-44 to face the No.1 seeds in the final. This match was another close run thing, with both sides again giving no quarter, Ann and her team-mates once again raising their game to an even higher level. Unfortunately this time the victory narrowly went to their opponents 45-44 but with 2nd place Ann and the other ladies had just cause to smile!

After one more night in Kingston to celebrate success, the next day saw us head back to Toronto (after the obligatory breakfast at McDonalds, of course!). Dave went off to visit his relatives while Ann and myself, along with 2 of the other ladies (what can I say, the chicks dig me!) did the sightseeing thing. A trip up the CN Tower. A visit to Chinatown, which included some of the most “interesting” dishes ever tasted as we tried our luck at a Dim Sum restaurant. A tour of every suburb of Toronto as we tried to return the vehicle to the hire company, getting lost several times along the way! A handy hint if you’re ever lost, taking the next right, then right again, then the next right will NOT put you back on track, trust me! All too soon though it was time to congregate at the airport, get checked in and do what fencers do so well in these situations ... buy duty frees. I was going to say shopping but I didn’t want you to get the impression we only went out to shop! An overnight flight back to the UK followed, and then it was off home to catch a nap before reflecting on the tour.

The standard of fencing experienced at this event was a good mix from novice to world-class, and it was gratifying to see us RAF fencers raise our own standards to be competitive. None of us were at any stage outclassed by our opponents and caused some major upsets, particularly in the Ladies Sabre! The Combined Services have been given an open invitation to return next year but perhaps if funding could be located then RAFFU could submit teams of their own. In a similar way that participation in civilian competitions can improve the standard of RAF fencers, the incentive to improve sufficiently to make the team for this event would almost certainly raise the standards even higher.

THE SCOTTISH OPEN
by Rauri Henderson-Begg
The weekend of 12 – 13 Jan saw this years Scottish Open and also my first civilian competition since I left the OCU 5 years ago. I duly turned up at Stirling Uni on the Saturday morning to test the water in the Men’s Epee, painfully aware that I didn’t even know who I was meant to be scared of! I was further depressed by the fact that the first person I saw was George Liston, who had made the long trek up from civilization. The day swiftly got better as I found that Pete M-B, Gary Brailsford and Skippy were also there for the day; at least I knew a few people.

The entry for the epee was 62, leading to 2 rounds of seeding pools and then an incomplete DE of 64. Quite frankly, the first seeding poule was abysmal as I lived up to my scratch seeding and only managed to win one fight. After some intensive coaching from Pete M-B (roughly along the lines of “Do better and don’t get hit so much”) and some loving encouragement from my wife – “Don’t think you’re spending any more on kit if you can’t win any fights.” (thanks love!). I managed to resurrect the day somewhat in the second seeding round and ended up as 40th seed. This left me to fence the 25th seed and already wondering whether I should reserve my place in the Plate.

As it happened, the amount of coffee that I had drunk during the day had had the normal effect and I was now fully awake. Along with some (more positive) encouragement from the boys this then enabled me to scrape through the First Round of the DE and set me up to fence the 8th seed in the second round. Although I had no idea who the 8th seed was, this was clearly going to be a much tougher proposition and match fitness and training combined to see me out of the competition but quite happy to have got so far.

Unfortunately the rest of the boys had fared no better than I and George was the only other RAF fencer who made it through to the Second Round.

The final rankings for the Men’s Epee were as follows:

3 George Liston
31 Rauri Henderson-Begg
39 Pete McKenzie-Brown

46 Gary Brailsford
47 Paul Hoskins
51 Shaun Taylor

The following day was the Men’s Foil. Unfortunately I was the only RAF fencer to take part, everyone else preferring to stick to a “Proper Weapon”.

I didn’t quite manage to repeat my performance in the seeding rounds, managing to win 2 fights in the first round and 3 in the second, with the result that I (amazingly) ended up going into the DE as the 28th seed. My bout against the 35th seed was hard fought, but I eventually managed to win 15-12 and was drawn against the 5th seed in the next round. This match was a repeat of the previous days, my opponent showing me exactly why he was 5th seed and I was 28th, however pride was salvaged as I managed to take a reasonable number of points from him.

All in all it was a very enjoyable weekends fencing and it reminded me why it is so important for RAF Fencing that we take part in civilian competitions. It was also good to see so many people making the journey all the way to God’s own country to take part. It has certainly whetted my appetite and I am aiming to take part in several more Opens around the country this year: see you there.

Editors Note: Many many thanks to Rauri for that report. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to knock a little something together, and as you’ve got to let the Match Sec know how you did so he can secure funding for next years comps you might as well send me a copy too! Well done also to all the RAF fencers who took part ... civvy comps are the future if we want to improve.

CAPTION COMPETITION
As I stated in my introduction, I’ve been swamped with entries for the last picture. I’m suitably impressed. Thank you to all those who sent in your entries, it made my day, particularly Rob Desforges who obviously has FAR too much time on his hands!

Anyway, all the entries were so good I’m having trouble deciding who wins and gets that great big sloppy kiss from me (I was disappointed to hear that Adrian declined my offer from the last edition!). As such, I’m going to list them all here and let you, the readers decide.

Vote for your favourite and I’ll make sure they get something “special” in return .. hee hee hee!!!

So, a reminder of the picture and the entries so far:

JD: “Hey, they never taught me these two long things bend in the middle like this at Cranwell!”
SJ: “You slept through IOTC. Didn’t you? Didn’t you? He did, didn’t he?”
A: “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...”

JD: “Damn! Scuffed these breeches at Morris Dancing practice.”
A & SJ: “???????”

JD: “Euurgh So that’s what that smell is.”
SJ: “I thought it was the packed lunches.”
A: “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...”

JD: “Yuuuuch! I’ve just trod on a sabreur!”
A: “No, no ... it smells much sweeter than that!”

JD: “Hang on, let me show you what I learned at my Can-Can classes.”
SJ: “Oh yes and what name do you go by at the weekend?” Under his breath whispers “Testing, 1-2, 1-2.”

JD: “And if I raise my leg like this ...” Paaaaaaaaarp
SJ: “Oooh! Very clever! Where’d you learn to do that?”
JD: “Cranwell!”
A: “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...”

JD: “Does my bum look big in this?”
In unison: “Yes!”

JD: “Euurgh. Think I just stood in a Pilot!”

JD: “... and I’ve got the matching handbag to go with them ...”
SJ: “Yes, but they’re soooo last year.”
A: “Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...”

OK, special treat for you this edition ... I’ve been accused of not opening myself up to enough ridicule, abusing my position of power as Editor to prevent anything that might embarrass me from making it into this magazine. All this is perfectly true!!!

Nevertheless, I bow to popular opinion and submit Exhibits A and B for your amusement! Be gentle!!! In my defence all I will say is I was a) Young, b) Stupid and c) Very, very drunk! ... and no way do you get to see the next pics in the series!

ALDERSHOT OPEN 2002
By Cpl Phil McNulty
Every year I do the same thing ... eat too much at Christmas, drink too much at New Year, lose whatever semblance of fitness I may have had prior to the festive season. And every year except last year (thanks to a tour in Bosnia) I punish myself by making myself compete in the Aldershot Open. Usually it’s the first event of the New Year but this year it was put back to the 19 – 20 Jan and so after a little more time to prepare I made my way to Aldershot to compete in the foil. And as usual, found myself to be the only RAF fencer there!

Time to uphold the RAF honour then! I thought as I took to the piste for my first match ... and promptly lost. When I then lost the second match I panicked. The old adage “Find the bunny in your poule” was uppermost in my mind as I realised that perhaps I was the bunny. Fortunately, the adrenaline this fear inspired made me finally start to fence at a decent level, and I was pleasantly surprised to then not only win my remaining fights quite comfortably but to come 3rd in the poule.
With 53 competitors entered it was surprising that only one seeding round was held, but with a seeding of 18th after the first round I was happy. With an incomplete tableau of 64 I then had to fence the No 47 seed, the only RN fencer, Dickie Barton who had fared badly in the seeding round. He picked up his game in the DE but not enough and I went through to the last 32 comfortably in the end.

Unfortunately it was then my luck to meet the No 14 seed … who clearly deserved a higher ranking as he knocked me out easily and went on to come 2nd overall! He must have been one of those fencers who take a while to warm up! Overall my fencing on the day had far exceeded my expectations, and this bore some fruit. One bright spot of this Army run competition is the award of a prize to the highest placed Service fencer … and with the highest placed Army fencer down in 38th I was happy to accept the medal for my 19th place.

Returning home with a smile on my face and a medal in my hand, it was time for that well known sportsman’s diet ... beer and pizza. And garlic bread. And chicken wings. What can I say, I’d used up a lot of energy!!!

So it was that come Sunday morning, I was bright, refreshed and ready to try my luck at this epee thing. Not being renowned for my skills as an epeeist, I’d been quite happy with the improvement it had started to show at the end of last year. Now the true test was going to be whether any of that improvement had actually stayed with me!

This time I was not the only RAF fencer entered, with George Liston, Skippy Hosking, Andy Alcock and Gary Brailsford all flying the RAF flag. With some big names on show however it was not surprising that we RAF types struggled. With 72 fencers a single seeding round was fenced followed by an incomplete tableau of 128. It was at this point that Lady Luck decided to smile down on me; my last opponent withdrew with an injury, leaving me with 2 wins and 2 losses. As the poule had lost a fencer this actually gave my victories a higher weighting, resulting in my seeding of 37th., thankfully gaining a bye into the last 64.

My next match was a hard encounter against the No 28 seed. As we started I quickly drew out a 4 point lead thanks to some wild attacks by my opponent. By the time George appeared at piste side the match was going head to head, with me marginally maintaining my slim lead. I at this point have to give my sincere thanks to George as my opponent was starting to fight his way back into the match and thanks to some excellent coaching by George I managed to scrape the win 15-14. It was only afterwards that I found my opponent was ranked 37th in the UK … a nice scalp for my trophy cabinet! Unfortunately for the RAF, only George and I made it through into the last 32, with Gary, Andy and Skippy narrowly losing in their matches. Again though the Army failed to get anyone in the top 32, with their highest placed fencer in 44th.

Still buoyed by my performance against the UK’s No.37 and my move up into the 28th seed position, I was looking forward to my next fight ... Dudley Tredger, said I ...who’s he then? A quick scan of the remaining fencers showed me another man with Union Jack piping on his fencing kit. So what, said I, I’ve beaten one, I’ll beat another one too!

To be honest, the match was a bit of a blur ... with my opponent fencing some of the quickest epee I’d ever seen. But quick also equated to careless, so I was more than happy with my performance as I lost the fight 15-12. That happiness turned to pure shock as I was then told that I’d just taken 12 points off the UK No.3!!! It just goes to show that reputations mean nothing ... as well as rankings, nice expensive looking fencing kit and having your name on the back of your jacket. If they are on the other end of the piste to you, then they are just as fallible as you ... and can be beaten.

Meanwhile George continued on, fencing well to make the last 8 before eventually losing. I then found myself indebted to George for the second time that day as, in what was an extremely magnanimous gesture, he withdrew himself from eligibility for the highest placed Service fencer medal. What an absolutely, jolly nice chap that George Liston is! This made it a clean sweep for me as I was once more presented with the medal for my 30th place. As I thanked George for his generosity he reminded me just how well I had fenced over the day, and that I had earned the medal … and on reflection I couldn’t agree more! All that remained was to take my by now tired bones out to the car for the drive home ... and to show Mrs Editor yet another medal, and another smile that lasted for the whole of that evening and the next day!

The final positions for the weekend were:

Men’s Foil
Phil McNulty 19th

Men’s Epee
George Liston 8th
Phil McNulty 30th
Skippy Hosking 50th
Andy Alcock 54th
Gary Brailsford 62nd

HOW DOES THAT WORK?
by Phil McNulty
Last year at the RAFFU AGM I breathed a huge sigh of relief when my decision to step down as RAFFU Armourer was accepted. OK, it meant I was moving onto pastures new as DOC (Tech) so I’d still be just as involved as I had been before and my workload would be the same. But it meant that no longer would I have to frantically try to get time off work in order to drive to Cosford prior to every RAFFU event. Firstly to check all the equipment and secondly get it all set up. That’s the problem with the job ... you can’t take ALL the kit away with you, so the only chance you get to service or repair most of it is when you happen to be at Cosford prior to an event. Then it’s a case of finding enough serviceable kit for the initial set-up, then finding enough kit so you have spares ... then finally turning your attention to the broken stuff and trying to fix it. And that’s where this column comes in ...

Over the course of the years I taught myself how most fencing stuff works. It’s not that complicated actually, so that’s how I was able to do such a good job of sounding wise and sage! And of course you pick up handy little tricks when it comes to actually doing repairs ... like how to adjust an epee travel spring without bending it! One of the conditions of me retiring from the Armourers role though was that I have to pass on this knowledge ... don’t they realise that knowledge is power? Maniacal laughter ........ So, if you ever wanted to become an Armourer, or just want to take some of the weight off the Armourer’s shoulders by actually attempting to fix your own weapons this is for you. In this guide, any information useful when it comes to diagnosing or rectifying faults will follow the words “Armourers Magic Pointer” ... simply quote these words to anyone experiencing problems and your place as an Armouring Sage will be assured.

So, where to start? I suppose a good place would be with the weapons. How do they work?

Foil
A foil blade is permanently “live”, with the action of depressing the tip actually breaking the circuit. This is one part of the process. The tip itself is conductive, and so the signal fed through the blade has to make contact with the lame jacket of your opponent to register correctly. Thus a hit in foil is a 2-stage process; contact with the lame plus breaking of the circuit. So that’s how a foil works ... what can stop it working?

A broken wire can occur anywhere on the blades length, but most often at the tip, after the fencer has twisted it again and again because the tip was sticking! The wire also often breaks at the socket, where it is attached by the screw. Check this area carefully because the cotton insulation covering the wire can sometimes hold it in place, making it look like it is still connected properly. Another fault which can occur is a loose barrel, or if the barrel is insulated from the blade by rust, which can bring up an off-target light. Grub screws ... what do they do? They hold the point in place and stop it flying out, obviously. But they also form part of the circuit, so if they’re rusty they can insulate the tip and cause an intermittent fault. Another intermittent fault is caused by a weak pressure spring, which allows the circuit to break momentarily, very often following a beat on an opponent’s blade. This will produce a white off-target light on the box. A foil spring should support a weight of 500 grams and at all RAFFU competitions weight checks are compulsory! The socket itself can also be a source of trouble when it wears with use and the body wire plug shakes about causing the off-target light to come on. The only answer to this fault is to dismantle the socket and stretch the spring inside. This puts extra pressure onto the body wire plug.
Armourers Magic Pointer: A constant off-target light indicates a break in the circuit. This broken wire can either be on the foil itself or anywhere back to the box, including body wire, spool and ground lead.

If you look at a normal bayonet body wire (the kind most of us use unless you buy Uhlmann kit) the screw at the end is insulated from the rest. Short this screw to the rest of the body wire by using the guard of the foil; if the off-target light goes out then the fault is in the foil. If the light stays on, then look at the plug at the spool end of the body wire. It has 3 pins, and 2 of these are wider apart. Gently ease the plug out and short the two pins which are wider apart; if the light goes out you have a broken body wire. If not, disconnect the ground lead from the spool and again short out the wider apart pins; if the light goes out then the fault is with the spool, if not change the ground lead. If that still fails to cure your fault then call the Armourer ... he will take a sharp intake of breath, shake his head while staring thoughtfully into the distance, then say “I’ve seen this before ...” before wandering off, muttering to himself.
All the above faults produce an off-target light... but what if you’re not getting an off-target light ... what if you’re getting nothing?

Armourers Magic Pointer: If no hits register and nothing happens when the point is depressed the circuit is not being broken. There is possibly a bare wire somewhere, usually where the handle is tightened against the socket and coquille, trapping the wire and causing a permanent circuit. If the grub screws are too tight they can prevent the tip travelling far enough to make contact with the cup inside the barrel. The tip itself may be rusty, thus not making good contact inside the barrel, or the spring may be too tense, preventing the tip reaching the cup. A common fault found after rewiring is that the cup is not sitting correctly in the barrel; so ensure that the tip can be assembled before gluing the wire on!

So, that’s what can go wrong with a foil ... quite a bit for such a simple piece of equipment. And as for spares ... more important information you will require as an Armourer ...

Armourers Magic Pointer: Foil tips and barrels come in 2 different sizes. That’s right, 2 different sizes; French and German.

French: Small and thin. Leon Paul ONLY use and supply French tips and barrels. If you buy spares from Leon Paul you WILL get French.

German: Wider and thicker. Allstar manufacture these and they can be purchased from Duellist, Blades and Allstar.

So what difference does it make to which spares you buy, surely they’re interchangeable? I’m afraid not. If you buy a German rewire, the little plastic cup on the end which insulates the contact from the barrel will only slide a short distance down a French barrel ... not leaving enough room for the tip to be fully inserted. German tips grub screws are slightly bigger too. Plus the fact that a German tip will NEVER fit into a French barrel! So what do you do? For your own personal equipment, make a choice ... a French tip is apparently better for flick hits while a German tip guarantees a better hit rate, with a bigger surface area ensuring
a better contact and the edges catching better to improve the chances of the point depressing. If you’re an Armourer you need to cater for both types ... so you need to stock both French and German tips, barrels, springs, grub screws and rewires. But the good news is that if someone needs you to fix their weapon, and they don’t hold their own spares? Charge them the earth ... that’ll teach them!

On a personal note, I use German tips. They are more robust, more reliable, slightly cheaper and easier to maintain than French ... plus I can’t do flick hits anyway!

OK, that’s it for this first introduction ... that should help to make your fencing go more smoothly should you experience problems on the piste. You’ll now be able to diagnose them like an expert and surprise and amaze all your friends! Next time, how to rewire a foil ... I’ll prep the A&E to make sure they have enough solvent!

SOMETHING TO PAD OUT THIS ISSUE
OK, I know it’s not on ... just throwing something in because you “can’t be bothered” but that’s what’s happened. I was going to write a small report on the Slough Open, which Dave Long and I both entered, but by the time I got to this page I was sick of writing! Editors are allowed to have slack days too you know!
Anyway, as a result of that I have to find something to fill the next page and a half and in the fine old traditions of the BBC I’m going to fall back on that old favourite ... repeats! So, with that in mind, I give you an article previously included in the Mar 93 issue of REPRISE. It was submitted by former RAFFU Captain Sgt Andy Mair, and for all those who don't know or remember him, he was an epeeist (as is patently obvious by some of his definitions!).

Fencing Terms

Absence of Blade The sudden realisation that one's kit is not in the car.

Bind Annual Subs/Match Fees.

Counter Offensive Actions A practical application of the phrase "Do unto others before they do unto you."

Counter Time The last round.

Engagement An old fashioned idea.

Envelopement The result of a badly executed fleche.

Fencing Positions Mythological employment.

Fleche After-thought based on desperation.

Hit A figment of the imagination (except at epee).

Parry A positive defensive action that usually fails.

Period of Fencing Time On average, two hours a week.

Preparation of Attack A deep breath.

Second Intention A quickly acquired decision to take part in something less strenuous

Stop Hit Natures gift to the beginner

Time Hit A pleasant surprise

Taking the Blade Petty Larceny

Fencing Measure Usually a Pint

Successive Parries Desperation moves carried out whilst retreating rapidly down the piste

Remise Forgetting to withdraw the arm when the initial attack fails

Reprise The realisation that your opponent hasn't worked out that your first action was unintentional. Also a fantastically well put together magazine on all matters relating to RAF fencing, edited by an absolutely fantastic bloke too.

FINAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Keep those articles coming in ... it’s always great to get stuff to put in, especially as it means I don’t have to go to the time and effort of having to get creative and write anything!