ARN - What is your preference

[Beth Richard]

Isobel Hadleigh wrote:


> As for the "chest" part...if she would like additional protection
> to prevent her breasts from being hit, you can purchase
> breast protectors (fondly referred to as "frisbees" by many of
> us female fencing folk) from the various online fencing
> stores.  These are usually made of plastic or metal, and are
> slipped inside the bra.

These "frisbees" are required equipment for mundane fencing, and as such are
readily available from any of the fencing supply houses... Triplette,
Santelli, Whatever... they shouldn't be hard to find at all.

I used to wear a mundane fencing jacket under a trigger tunic, but, alas, I
fear that such armour has shrunk in the wash during my absence from the
field (yah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)  I am also putting
together new armour, so I'm following this thread as well.  Anyway, my
mundane fencing jacket had pockets sewn to the inside of the jacket to
accept these "frisbees".  When I tried my new jacket for the first time
(layered trigger and denim, BTW, which I found to be WAY too hot in this
climate), I hadn't yet put in those pockets.  I had to put my "frisbees"
inside my bra.  All I can say is YUCK!  The cold metal against my skin, and
then the sweat pooling between the metal and my skin was no fun at all.  By
the next day, I had the pockets back in my jacket!

If you find "frisbees" inside the bra to be uncomfortable, try putting
pockets inside your jacket... you'll love the difference!

> I use them when fighting schlager and when facing folk known
> to be hard hitters. She'll just have to be careful about blow
> calling when hit on the protectors.

I dunno... maybe it's the decades of mundane fencing, but I wear the
"frisbees" at ALL times while fencing!  I actually didn't exactly once...
the first bout with this new jacket.  This bout was with a dear friend, Dona
Rhiannon the Curious of the kingdom of Aethelmearc while I was at Pennsic
this year.  The final shot was when she planted a perfect bullseye on my
left... umm... bullseye!!!  YOUCH!!!  I went back to the gear bag and got
those "frisbees".  I'd left them out due to lack of pockets, but it only
took me one bout to decide I'd try the inside of the bra method anyway.  See
Above! :)



> Finally, the placquet (sp?) that fits in the arm-pit, which was
> described in a prior post, works quite well.


In mundane fencing, a "plastron" is also required equipment.  This is an
elbow length sleeve that is attached to a partial jacket that comes just
over the shoulder and half way down the ribs on one side.  A strap goes
round the ribs to hold it in place.  When using my mundane jacket and
trigger tunic, I wore one plastron on each arm.  Again, since this is
required equipment for mundane fencing, all the supply houses carry them.
With my new armour, I "built in" the plastron by including an extra layer
over those areas that would have been covered by the plastron anyway.

I've been involved in mundane fencing off and on since 1980 and I've fenced
rapier in the SCA since 1987 with a lapse between '94 and last spring.  Once
I got involved in SCA rapier, I found the attitude MUCH friendlier than
mundane fencing and actually haven't done a lot of the mundane stuff since
then.  In all this, I still find that hits I've taken while mundane fencing
have been MUCH -=MUCH=- harder than what I find in the SCA.  the SCA armour
is built to a MUCH -=MUCH=- higher standard than the mundane 3 weapons
jacket.

As a result, I think we are very well protected with our SCA armour.

I mentioned the mult-layer trigger and denim that was originally recommended
to me.  When I ran into Don Haroon (sp?) from Stargate while at Pennsic, he
steered me to the same linen source in Austin that was mentioned here
earlier.  Even though I've just completed (well, 90% complete, anyway) this
trigger doublet, I think I'll probably go for a new one of the linnen.  When
I saw his, it looked amazing!  And he was very comfortable in it as well!
(I was panting with my jacket opened and he was strolling about looking
fabulous in the Pennsylvania heat!   Imagine the difference in THIS
climate!)

Anyway, as my Don would say... "Go Forth and Have Fun!"

  Telynor
    Formerly of Aethelmearc, Now living in Ansteorra,
    Cadet to Don, Duke Syr Morguhn Sheridan of Aethelmearc.


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