Don't Stick Your Neck Out

I've started to see a scary trend during armor inspections over the last few months: gorgets that don't pass. And it isn't even that they're failing because of a lack of padding, it's because they don't cover enough of the neck. If you read the regs, they're pretty clear:

For heavy rapier and cut and thrust rapier[Artemisia does heavy rapier], additional throat protection is required; it shall consist of rigid material, as noted above, covering the entire throat, and shall be backed by either puncture resistant material (as a hood), one quarter inch (1/4") (6 mm) of open-cell foam, or their equivalents. The cervical vertebrae shall also be protected by rigid material, provided by some combination of gorget, helm, and/or hood insert.

Like I said, it's pretty straight-forward: the neck has to be covered by a rigid material. The problem I've been seeing is gorgets that are way too short for the wearer. For those who don't know, they way marshals test gorget protection is to have the fencer lean their head back and then look under the mask's bib. Ideally, we won't see any skin. If we do, then it becomes a judgement call for the marshal. If the marshal can't fit a finger in the gap, it's probably good, if they can fit one or more fingers in, it's a bad thing. Now, last weekend at Whipping Winds, there was a guy with a gap that I could fit my entire hand in. Not only that, but he was tall (taller than me, in fact) so the odds of taking a shot to the gap was better than average.

Like I said: a bad thing.

Now, the best fix for this problem is to find a good armorer and have him custom-fit you a good gorget. Unfortunately, good armorers can be hard to find, and when you do, there's a good chance they will be busy. That leads to the next best thing: trying on a gorget before you buy it to make sure it fits. Yes, that means no buying off the Internet. But it also means that you won't have to fiddle with it to make it work.

Okay, so how do you know if it fits?

• Does it fit around your neck with enough space for padding?


• Can you turn your head and tilt it from side-to-side as well as nod it forward and back?


• Does it cover your adams apple?

If it meets those three criteria, go grab your mask and try it on with your gorget and have a friend look to see how many fingers they can fit between the gorget and the mask. If they can't fit a finger in there, you're good.

Those are the best ways to correct the problem, but there are those of us who can't afford a new gorget or whose neck is too big or too long and just can't find one that fits, which leaves you with trying to fix what you already have. Here are a couple of ways you can do this. The first is to get a piece of heavy leather that you can slide behind the front of your gorget to give you the necessary protection. The upside to this trick is that it fully meets our equipment standard, but it has the downside of being another piece of equipment to keep track of.

The other answer - and probably the least desirable - is get a coif that fits either over or under your mask that will cover your neck. This has the advantage of covering the armor requirements for the back of the head, but it's downside is fairly major: it doesn't really correct the problem, it hides it instead. All it does is keep the marshals from seeing the gap. And be warned: if you go with the coif and it covers your entire gorget, odds are that a marshal will try to choke you to make sure you are wearing it. But don't worry, as soon as they feel your gorget, they'll stop squeezing.

And since my solution to a slightly short gorget is to wear a coif, this is definitely one of those "do as I say, not as I do" moments.