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.

What I meant to say was...

At Whipping Winds this past weekend, I taught a short class on Marshalling for Rapier where I covered field marshalling and weapon inspections before doing an open Q and A period. And whether because of the crud I was suffering from or just my natural absent-mindedness, there were a few things I forgot or I feel like expanding on.

The first omission (and probably the biggest) was on the subject of injuries. If you are the marshal in charge of an event or a practice and there is an injury requiring outside medical assistance (ambulance, EMTs, etc.), you need to contact both the Kingdom Rapier Marshal and the Earl Marshal (currently Don Azir and Duke Allan) as soon as possible with all of the details of the incident. In this case, as soon as possible means within twenty-four hours, but if you can send something up as soon as the EMTs have left the scene, that is better (make a trip into town if you need to). For some reason they get grumpy if they hear about stuff from Corporate before they hear about it from their guys in the field. Go figure.

The next thing I want to go into is rules vs. rumors. As many of you know, canes have been on the experimental list for quite some time. At the event, a couple of people brought them and I did the standard hold 'em up and ask if anyone had any problem facing them. One gentle, got rather upset, insisting that Don Azir had just approved them and was writing them into the rules. This was even corroborated by a marshal-at-large who was there. The gentle with the can was even more upset when I told him that I didn't care and that until I saw the written regs, I was treating it as a rumor. Here's the thing. It's not that I thought he was lying, even without the corroboration of the other marshal. The problem was that I have heard nothing from higher-ups about the subject, and I have seen no regulations about canes, so rather than trying to enforce rules I have never seen as to construction standards and such, I enforced the rules that I knew to be good. In my opinion, it is always better to enforce outdated rules that you know than to try and enforce new rules that you have never seen before. The flip side, of course, is that to have a responsibility to keep as up-to-date on the rules as possible.

We also spent a good chunk of time talking about drinking and fighting. The rules say that if you're impaired, you can't fight. Of course, they don't define impaired which leaves the decision up to the marshal in charge. So I told them my basic rules: if I can smell it, you can't fight and if you walk up with a beer in your hand, you're done (yes, I've had it happen). But probably the best way to handle it is for fencers to marshal themselves. If you have a drink, just don't fight. Likewise, if your cold medication leaves you fuzzy or your on prescription pain meds - or even if you just feel "off", don't fight. Remember, this isn't like deciding you don't need to wear a cup where you'll be the one hurt, this is an instance where your stupidity will hurt someone else.

The last thing I want to talk about is the authority and responsibility of the Marshal in Charge (BTW, who was the MIC for rapier at Whipping Winds, and where was he or she on Saturday?). The Marshal in Charge is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in his list field or on his melee field. Everything that happens is his fault. That is why the Marshal in Charge is the ultimate authority for his field. Whatever they say is law. The Marshal in Charge can tell the Society marshal what to do, and they must listen. Now this doesn't mean that being a MIC gives you the right to be a petty tyrant, even if it does give you the ability. Remember that every decision you make can be held up for review after the fact. Now both out kingdom Rapier Marshal and Earl Marshal are very supportive of their troops in the field and will probably stand behind your actions, whatever they are, but if that action was really stupid, you may find yourself with your warrant and authorization pulled.

In case of emergency...

In an ideal world, armor inspections are that brief moment before you fight when the marshals comment on how wonderful your equipment is, but in reality, armor inspection is when you discover your tip is shot or yes, you really did leave your gear out in the rain. These discoveries often leave fencers scrambling around, looking for the stuff to fix their problems. The answer to this problem (other than actually going over all of your gear before hand) is to have an emergency kit.

These don't have to be very large. In fact, all you really need is three items:

1. Spare tips. You need at least one, but I recommend one for each of your blades, plus one to share.


2. Scotch pad - for cleaning surface rust from your blades. Again, you need one, but it doesn't hurt to have a spare to loan out.


3. Tape. Remember: whatever type of tape you use, it must contrast with both the blade and the tip, so silver and black tapes are out. Which means that your basic duct tape and electrical tape are out, unless you get different colors. I recommend white athletic tape. It's durable but rips easily and is visible enough for use in torchlight tournaments.

Those are the basics, but some other items that would be a good idea are: a multi-tool (always a good thing to have),a set of needle files, and duct tape (if it's not part of your basic kit).

These simple items will fix just about any problem you'll encounter on the field. Of course, if you want to go overboard, you can throw in spare blades, spare guards, handles, pommel weights, etc. but those are probably just as easily left back at camp.