Florida ARMA Gathering

[Mike Cartier]

We had a great gathering this Sunday in Orlando.
many thanks to David Knight for his great mair staff class and to Jay for his dagger and half swording class which were as always excellent. thanks too to Ray Brunk for coming down to train with us, he definatly made us step it up a notch i tried a few tricky Meyer handworks but Ray was falling for none of them and displayed some really sweet Zucken and multiple striking attacks.

We got to introduce some HEMA to some new folks up in the central Florida area and one even jumped in to do some sparring using the Meyer guards he had learned less than a hour before.

great day although the heat was brutal.

Its events like these that remind me of why we are love ARMA
The padded swords made by Jeanry were excellent and we put them to extensive use with lots of great sparing by everyone.

Thanks to everyone for attending i think we had a grand total of 13 attendeees.


pictures and some great sparring videos to come in the near future.

We will probably hold our next Florida gathering at the end of the year sometime. Hopefully next time we can get a 2 day weekend going as one day is just not enough time.

[Jay Vail]

Indeed, all, it was a great day. The weather was clear, though hot, as it usually is in May here.

But we had a great turn out and lots of fun. Thanks to Mike for his clear coverage of Meyer's complexities, and for making the event happen.

There was fine sparring and I have the bruises to show for it.

Ray, I can't believe you came down from NY, but we were happy that you came.

[Matthew_Anderson]

Sounds great, but we want pictures <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

[JeanryChandler]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on the event. Glad the swords held up ok, I'm real sorry I couldnt make it, sounds like it is getting better every year.

Jeanry

[Ray Brunk]

I just returned from the Florida ARMA Gathering. I would like to thank everyone from the Florida study groups for your hospitality. It's great to be part of an organization where one can travel 1000+ miles and feel right at home.
Every class was well thought out, printed out(excellent handouts)and presented in a practical an martially sound manner.David gave awesome class on Mair shortstaff. Jay also did a great job with dagger. I was very impressed with how knowledgable these Florida groups are. I received so much that I can bring back to NY. Mike Cartier is heading up great group that will continue to make ARMA look good. He is well above the learning curve with his Meyer work. I strongly suggest everyone check out their footwork & cutting drills. The practicality of there training was clearly shown during sparring. This is one FAST group of swordsmen.
Thank you all & I hope to see you again soon (preferably during the dead of winter!)
Time to relax and heal

[David_Knight]

Sounds great, but we want pictures

Hmm... no pictures, but will a 2.5 minute clip of digitally edited sparring highlights carefully synchronized to music suffice? <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

This video turned out really well: http://www.paulushectormair.com/ARMA/2005 ARMA Florida Highlights.wmv [~10MB, .wmv]

Best enjoyed at full volume.

[Matthew_Anderson]

Awesome, thanks. Looks like you guys had a blast. What style of padded weapons are you guys using, ie what type of core, etc.?

[David_Knight]

I can't speak for the longswords, but the padded staffs are 6' pine closet dowels covered with foam pipe insulation and contractor-grade duct tape.

[Shane Smith]

Great stuff David! Ray is really getting pretty good(as are the rest of you guys)! <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[JeanryChandler]

Cool! What kind of software did you use to edit that and put the music in? I've been wanting to do that with some of our clips for a long time...

Jeanry

[JeanryChandler]

What style of padded weapons are you guys using, ie what type of core, etc.?

I believe I recognize a couple of the padded longswords I recently made for Jay, which would be Sch 80 PVC with the orthopedic foam flats and heavy guage aluminum cross-guards.

Jeanry

[Jay Vail]

Jeanry's padded swords were very popular. Many of the guys used them in preference to the ones they built themselves.

Jeanry, I have one question: have you posted how to select build the cross guard? That is, what kind of bracket to use and how to secure it? I want to retro fit some of my other paddeds with aluminum cross guards.

[Jay Vail]

Very cool, David. Nice job. Looking forward to the rest of the videos.

[M Wallgren]

Who is who on the clip?

[M Wallgren]

I use Ulead Videostudio 9, you could download a 30 days trial on downloads.com and try it out...