Post by schlager7 on Mar 11, 2006 13:17:07 GMT -5
My wife and I went to the opening weekend of the Four Winds Faire near Tyler last weekend. It's a smallish faire and more focussed on the 17th century (think D'Artagnan and the Musketeers) than the Renaissance or the Middle Ages.
One thing it did have, however, was competitive (not choreographed) jousting!
Below is an excerpt from a thread I started on the Gulf Coast forum:
The Joust: Very different experience for Nicole and I. The six knights (2 being female) use ash lances, not some easily splinted wood as often used in shows.
They competed (seriously... not staged) in:
attempts to catch up to four rings (smaller than those at TRF and suspended, not held by squires);
the quintain (scored by how many revolutions it made upon being struck... we were close enough to hear knights complain it was over-weighted);
lances delivered from horseback against a target;
and sword skills scored by seeing how many heads of cabbage set along the track they could cut with their swords while riding along (and how well: cleaved in two, barely clipped, etc).
As well, three competed in a round robin pool with lances against each other. The goal was to land a good hit on the opponent's shield. Strikes to head, torso or horse, we were advised, would result in immediate expulsion (black card!)
There were two visual judges (this is a dry competition) on either side of the center point, pretty much near where you would expect the two to meet.
My understanding is they have two such competitions each day with scores kept throughout the season until the championship on the final day. I, personally, think they should be posting each day's results somewhere. One might just hook in an audience that begins just by following daily and weekly scores.
One thing it did have, however, was competitive (not choreographed) jousting!
Below is an excerpt from a thread I started on the Gulf Coast forum:
The Joust: Very different experience for Nicole and I. The six knights (2 being female) use ash lances, not some easily splinted wood as often used in shows.
They competed (seriously... not staged) in:
attempts to catch up to four rings (smaller than those at TRF and suspended, not held by squires);
the quintain (scored by how many revolutions it made upon being struck... we were close enough to hear knights complain it was over-weighted);
lances delivered from horseback against a target;
and sword skills scored by seeing how many heads of cabbage set along the track they could cut with their swords while riding along (and how well: cleaved in two, barely clipped, etc).
As well, three competed in a round robin pool with lances against each other. The goal was to land a good hit on the opponent's shield. Strikes to head, torso or horse, we were advised, would result in immediate expulsion (black card!)
There were two visual judges (this is a dry competition) on either side of the center point, pretty much near where you would expect the two to meet.
My understanding is they have two such competitions each day with scores kept throughout the season until the championship on the final day. I, personally, think they should be posting each day's results somewhere. One might just hook in an audience that begins just by following daily and weekly scores.