See you there!

Los en Croissant!

Gwen

Thanks for your support! If anyone manages to come out to view the tournament, please come by an say Hi!

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Standings are:

Destrier 47
Burgundians 47
Order of the Crescent (us) 47
Royal Armouries 52

Today it's Destrier and the Burgundians at 12:30, then the Order of the Crescent and the Armouries team at 2:30.

It's a close race, but certainly within a manageable spread.

Toby, Steve and I used shields yesterday (didn't use them Friday, as I spent Thursday evening replacing the bevor catch on Steves sallet, so didn't get the straps nailed to the ecranches until late Friday afternoon), and mine didn't seem to effect my performance, as I scored exactly the same on the second day as the first. Toby did a little less well than usual and a lance ferrule was directed into his bevor by the shield, but Steve had problems with the shield's neck strap hindering his head movement due to an improperly sized bevor. Though Adam deForges did an absolutely fantastic job painting the shields, our team charge (the silver crescent) is dead center of the design which gave our opponents a 'bullseye' to aim for.

......we're not using shields today......

12:30 session-

Joram, Arne and Fred of the Burgundians scored in the high thirties (38, I think), beating Destrier, though Destrier scored high enough to edge out the Armouries team which led at the end of Saturday. Andy Deane of the Armouries team marshalled and handed out points liberally to all.

on a side note....I was one of the mounted squires in this session, with the job of riding after the Destrier guys, collecting their lances, and as part of that got to do all three skill at arms games during the warm-up/military games portion of the session. Saving my horse Carla for the joust, I rode Seamus (a cob gelding) and I was first up on the Sword cut and thrust. I cut well and took the heart target on my sword (which only one other person did in the tournament so far), but Seamus sped up after the thrust target then stopped way abruptly when I pulled him up and I went into the dirt. Luckily I didn't skewer myself on the sword, but picked myself up, dusted off and remounted, then tied the Royal Armouries record on the quintain with 12 turns. Yow. I think I just needed a 'hard re-boot'.

2:30 session-

Toby Capwell, Steve Mallet and I (Order of the Crescent) went up against Andy Deane, Shane Sullivan and Andrew Bodley of the Armouries and, while we beat them 26 to 25, it was not enough of a margin to put us ahead of the Destrier team, so we will not be in the finals tomorrow. I had breaks on the chest of all three of my opponents and Carla ran flawlessly for me. What a girl! I'm so looking forward to the Royal Armouries Live jousts in Scotland in July! I'm really starting to understand this horse.

Overall, though we're not in the running for the Sword, I couldn't have performed better today, and overall I'm totally pleased with my performance for the last three days. Tomorrow we'll go out against the Armouries again, with no pressure, and we'll undoubtedly have some incredible strikes. They always seem to happen more when everybody's relaxed...... and when it doesn't count.

Not sure anyone's reading this because of the time difference when I post. If any one is interested, please speak up. If not, no biggie, I'll just let it drop.

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Say hi to Andrew Bodley for me, if you would. He and I have emailed back and forth over some 16th Century saddle and holster details, and he was quite helpful. Thanks!

Break a Lance!

Cheers,

Gordon

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Had a great day Monday in the 12:30.

Absolutely destroyed the Royal Armouries team 33 to 18. Though it didn't matter in the outcome of the tournament, all 3 of us jousted like demons and scored big. I had max 5 points on my first and third runs, with a swipe on the second and only one point for horsemanship. Toby scored big and Steve scored chest strikes on two of his three passes.

Fun fun fun for the Order of the Crescent.

Los en Croissant!

Burgundians defeated Destrier in the 2:30 final, and took the Sword of Honour. John Waller awarded the Sword to captain Joram van Essen, and Fred Piraux (Burgundians) and Shane Sullivan (Armouries) were given awards as 'most chivalrous'.

If you guys could see our video, you'd see just how fast the horses are at this tournament compared to most of the jousting in the US. Lumbering full drafts as are typically used in American jousting just can't get up the speed like the smaller cob crosses used over here, or like Carla the Spanish mare I rode. Speed of horse changes the game entirely. Without a doubt. Faster horses mean you have only a narrow fraction of a second to hit your target, like the difference between hitting a stationary quintain and hitting another moving rider. Night and day.

Gordon, I hope we can get together sometime so I can show you pics and video. I believe you would really appreciate what goes on over here.

I would sure love to get something similar going on in California. Finding people who are sufficiently passionate about horses, history and jousting to do it is the trick.

Jeff will post a couple of pictures a little later. He's currently taking a nap; although he sustained no real jousting-related injuries that "hard re-boot" he took on Saturday flying off of Seamus really did a number on his ribs, and his shoulder is very tired and sore from all the lance stuff.

I'd like to publicly thank Mark Shier of Gaukler Medievalware for his work on the Order of the Crescent livery medallions. Mark made the medallions for me on a a ridiculously short turnaround, and did an absolutely superlative job on them. When Toby, as Sentaor of the Order, handed them out, it was a very profound and moving moment, with no shortable of genuinely misty eyes. The livery collars seemed to seal them into a real unit, and from that moment on they were truly "Brothers in Arms". It was really something to see and be a part of, and we are all very grateful for your hard work on them.

That is in fact one of those things I have been curious about, that most of the US afficionado's of jousting tend to use rather heavy draft-stlye horses, while the Europeans and Anzac's seem to use much lighter breeds. The speed certainly makes a lot of sense to me, but how well do they hold up to the weight of the armoured rider, arming saddle, any barding that they may have, and of course the shock of contact? I'm curious about it, and your opinions. Thanks!

Per getting things going here on the West Coast, that would be fabulous! I would love to see more historical horse events, be they Cavalry or Jousting. As you are all too well aware, right now there isn't much other than the stuff for show (and by that I don't mean that those aren't "real" in their own way! Just different), so it would be nice to raise the bar of historicality a bit.

Glad to hear that you're doing so well, and I look forward to your next report!

Cheers,

Gordon

[ 03-30-2005: Message edited by: Gordon ]

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As an aside, it looks as though the Order of the Crescent will be making another appearance. Toby has lined up a segment of "The Worst Jobs in History" for next week, so we'll be staying an extra couple of days and travelling to Kenilworth Castle to put on a joust for that. Toby will be doing the commentary (presumably with Tony Robinson) and Jeff and Steve will be doing the jousting. Fun!

I will prod Jeff in the ribs about the photos, I promise. Although we're distinctly short of still photos (I was shooting video of the actual jousting) I know we have some good ones from before and after the actual event.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ginevra:
(I was shooting video of the actual jousting) I know we have some good ones from before and after the actual event.

Gwen

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Well, I suppose if all you have is video

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Cheers

The Order of the Crescent at the Royal Armouries Team Tournament

We had a great time and made a great impression as the newest team, though we had all jousted at the Armouries before, either individually or as part of other teams.

Interesting that they had you in a Portuguese saddle, but it looks well fitted to that horse. Do you know if they order them to fit, or fitted the run-of-the-mill production saddles to the horses? Just curious, since I usually ride one myself. I assume that there wasn't room for your usual arming saddle, or is it just so specifically fitted to Bella that it wouldn't well fit another horse? I know, weird questions from the peanut gallery... ;^)

Cheers!

Gordon

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