Results from the Choco-therapy at BFC are up on FRED, behold the
thrashing I was given!

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=2133

All events at the tournament were Opens, with Epee going B1, Foil B2.

Events were at Baltimore Fencing Center, in Timonium, just down I-83.
Easy to get to, very nice fencing room, 7 full strips plus a few
extras, good floors, good lighting, but a bit noisy when all strips
were active (warehouse cieling, no noise supression).
BFC also has a store built in so you can try & buy kit and gear, very
nice option IMHO, and it's probably the closest brick & mortar
retailer around.

Epee: 23 entries, I ended up in the larger pool which included the top
seed, an A who was on the cadet national team, along with several
other highly skilled epeeists. Wow they are FAST. Wicked speed, tight
control of distance and reaction times that were near flawless.
That is to say, when an opening presented itself, BAM they hit it, and
they never missed (excellent point control), and lovely control of the
opponents' blades.

I got at least one touch on each opponent, which was my goal for the
day, and made them work for at least a few of their touches. I did get
a good workout, and had a good time, except for the losing, which sucked.

The Foil on sunday was also a killer, 30 entries, pool of 6, I got
rocked pretty badly, only one victory. Got to fence Don Davis from
VA, nice guy, awesome speed, great distance, gorgeous point work.
He's a classical point oriented fencer, plays to the phrase, works 2nd
intention and the stop hit, and can read actions a mile away. I tried
working to draw his attack to try to get a riposte, but he saw it and
drew out the phrase, 2-3-4-actions deep for a counter-riposte i never
thought of. It was sweet, I hope to get that hand someday.
Ah well, the rest of my pool was mostly me not moving effectively, and
not attacking well. Slow + Sloppy = losses.
My DE bout was with Lawson from BFC (who shows up in regional events
alot, she's a good fencer and friendly too) We had a good bout, I was
moving and making attacks and we were both trying to outwork each
other's ripostes, or feight into distance for direct attacks. we
traded touches thru 10-10, then she made a run to 10-13, and I
couldn't come back. It was my best bout of the day, and we both
managed to fence well and it was clean and sharp. I saw where I
needed to change, and thought about it, but didn't start executing
untill too late, and she just had me. Oh well it was worth the drive
and I hope to fence her again in the future.

Anyhow, next week is a slow one on the tournament schedule in the
North-east, most everyone is going to Pomme de Terre, in
Massachusetts, then Summer Nationals starts June 30-July 9.

I think (IIRC) that the Rob Roy one-touch epee event is on Sunday the
24th, if anyone is interested in attending/needs gear checked let me
know in advance please!

Cheers all and good fencing!
-CM