u/darumasan

I have been setting up foils with titanium barrels, NEPS tip screws, and outside hex nuts for attaching the grip. I've been doing all that because I thought they were all good choices for various reasons:

• titanium barrels for lighter tip and theoretically better point control (given no flicking as part of my game)
• NEPS screws because my ol' peepers really struggle with the standard slots screws and NEPS has made assembly and tip cleaning so much faster
• Outside Hex nuts because they never cause any trouble if a blade has longer than expected tang and are slightly lighter

However, I am now noticing each of these choice has caused me trouble when on the go if I dont have my tools with me. Whether at a camp or tournament have had to:

• buy a replacement blade when all 4 of the ones I brought either broke or needed a re-wire. Needless to say, none of the pre-wired blades available from vendors used titanium barrels. So had to use a blade with different balance point and then decide after event if worth it to rewire just to keep consistent with others
• clean a tip/barrel, but left my NEPS screwsriver at home, and the armorer didnt have a NEPS with them
• needed a quick tightening of the grip mid bout, but pool mates only had inside hex wrenches and once again - I left my outsidie hex wrench at home (same tourney)

All this to say… at what point do folks just settle for most common set up because it means replacment parts and tools are more likley to be available vs optimizing your gear but needing to always travel with your own tools?

parent of a 14 year old fencer. The two events my kid wants to attend (cadet and Y14) are maddeningly on a Friday and Monday. Add in the fact that getting from west coast to Florida takes a whole day it means this is a 5 day / 4 night trip to attend two events

I wish more effort was made to sequence NACs such that they arrange adjacent age ranges on subsequent days for same weapon. For October NAC, all categories except for women's saber have Div1 slapped in between cadet and Y14.

Tempering my saltiness I suspect there is some constraint that requires the Div1 events be spread out or something, but this particular NAC is really stretching us in terms of time off and budget logistics.

Is there room to improve scheduling logic here or it just is what it is and sometimes you get the short straw?

My understanding is that youth rankings are not changing from prior years (unlike cadet, junior, and senior). However, youth events have always allowed points earned at higher/older levels to count toward the youth rankings (so national cadet points would help your Y14 or Y12 ranking for example).

So will unified cadet points earned from RJCC events (whether inside or outside your region) now count toward youth national rankings OR will those only accept cadet or junior points from national events? I am guessing the later but not really sure

well - I sure hope it's not flighted

Noticed the are continuing to beta test streaming via Boutcaster.com at https://boutcaster.com/?groupName=sn2026.

They did this for April Nac as well and is great because there's way more footage than on their youtube channel and with seemingly way better framerates.

It looks like they are not covering all events/strips but will be checking day to day to see which events are there

Although it can be match-up dependent, I've noticed some passive or defensive-minded fencers have a habit of frequently retreating to the end of the strip as an opponent marches on them. I'm fascinated by this pattern, as it would seem that the option space for the defender shrinks significantly once at the back of the strip. Yet I have seen this play out many times in the favor of the defensive fencer, even against opponents who like to march. Is this something you can only do selectively for fencers with limited finishing skills? Just wondering what's going on in the mind of the defender here, and if any people who have this habit actually prefer engagement with nowhere to retreat to.