FIE Rules changes for the 2004-2005 season

The FIE, the international organization that governs the Olympic
sport of fencing, has made changes to the timing of actions in foil
and sabre as registered on the scoring equipment. These changes are
provisional for this season, though they are expected to become
permanent next year. The USFA Board of Directors, at its October 2,
2004 meeting, has voted to adopt the same changes for all North
American Circuit (NAC) events, National Championships, and national
qualifying events. These changes will be implemented at the first NAC
of the season in Atlanta.

All divisional, sectional, and collegiate competitions can be run
using either the old or the new timing, but the timing must be the
same on every strip at the competition. Information about the timing
used at any competition should be published before the event. The
exception to this is qualifying events for Junior Olympics and
National Championships: these must be run with the new timing.

The timing changes are:
1. In foil, the lockout time decreases slightly (from 350
milliseconds to 300 milliseconds). This reduces the window of time
after a fencer registers a touch that his or her opponent may also
register a touch.
2. Also in foil, the amount of time the foil tip must remain
depressed in order to register a touch has increased from 1-5
milliseconds to 15 milliseconds.
3. In sabre, the lockout time decreases from 350-400 milliseconds to
120 milliseconds.

Cheers!
CLF

Also recall massage 449
[Fwd: [md-div-announce] Rules Changes for the 2004-2005 Season]

In foil, reversing the shoulders is now NOT penalized.
(covering target is still a penalty, so watch rear arm posture,
also this does not remove turning-the-back penalty)

Revision of article t87 includes this wording...
..., when the final touch has been scored, the bout has not ended
until the two fencers have saluted each other, the referee AND (to)
the spectators.
(I expect my fencers to be sharp when saluting, this rule is very
clear. More on this later)