I’M GOING TO FIGHT TOMORROW!!
That’s right. Tomorrow, 13 February, 2021, I’ve got a duel set up with a good friend, Joshua Veliz. We’re planning to do a fun, quick sword and buckler fight. I am totally psyched. Josh is probably stronger than me, but we both have cardio shortcomings, so this should be a fun match. It is only three passes so you’ll want to tune in and pay attention if you want to see us fight.
Live stream on Twitch HERE beginning at 7:30 PM Eastern (US) Time, 13 February 2021.
I had a bit of a COVID scare on Monday as I wasn’t feeling great and the symptoms could have been of COVID-19. Wednesday I got tested and today I got the results and I’m good to go. PCR test came out negative. I felt better by Tuesday, so all good. I knew it would be negative but I erred on the side of caution. Down side: I missed all the workouts this week. Upside: I got my results in time to have an awesome horse riding lesson this afternoon.
So here we go. I fight in just over 24 hours. Live on the Internet. I will be wearing an approximation of what you might expect from a knight or man at arms in western Europe (perhaps Norther Italy) around the year 1400. With standard case greaves and articulated legs, I’ll be wearing a reproduction of the Churburg S18 cuirass (torso armor) with pretty standard articulated arms and medium sized pauldrons. For a helm, I am stuck with my old visored bascinet with a mail aventail. Modeled off a jousting helmet of the time, this thing is a TANK. The problem is like any tank, it has somewhat limited mobility and visibility. I have a new helmet on the way, but it seems to be stuck in Customs at the moment. (Anyone I know work in US Customs? I know you’re swamped, but it would be nice if armor from the Ukraine and Russia cleared a bit faster… My new helmet has been there almost a full month and I have friends with things they’ve waited much longer for… I have tracking. It was last seen leaving Kiev 15 Jan 2021. But I digress…) For gauntlets, I’ll be wearing my favorite transitional mitten gauntlets. These are a sport optimized reproduction (by Jeff Wasson) of an extent pair from about 1440. I may or may not wear my personal tabard over it all. I’m proud of it, and it serves to distinguish who I am on the field, but this time there are only two of us and he’ll likely be in third quarter 14th century armor that looks distinctly different. He’s also a lot shorter than I am. We’ll be easy to tell apart.
(For those worried, we are using strict protocols to be safe during the pandemic. We are not using the Underhall as a locker room, but rather kitting up socially distanced in the loading dock and masks are required at all times unless actually eating or drinking. Everything gets sanitized. I expect temperature checks as we check in as well.)