Winden and recent meeting

[Guest]

Members of ARMA Tennessee spent a sunny Saturday afternoon practicing rapier techniques from the Palas Armata (sp?) as well as working with halberd and bill techniques against pole weapons as well as against the longsword. My question now relates to the longsword and the meaning of the term Das Winden or the winding. While practicing longsword techniques with padded wasters and wooden wasters, I would tend to go from the bind position to reverse cut with the false edge. Is this technique the winding or does and cut going from the bind classify as Das Winden?

[Guest]

I'm sure others will weigh in on this, but here's my input: Removing your sword from the bind so that you can cut is a little different than the winding. You are simply lifting your sword away when you have an advantage and cutting him. I believe this is called Abnahmen. Winden is turning the sword about the axis and sliding along his blade in order to put the strong of your blade in contact with the weak of his. Often accomplished by lifting your hilt into a hengen. Now you can thrust over or along his blade, simply forcing it out of the way since you have the advantage. Of course all this happens very quickly and is something you develop a feel for through practice. It's also pretty hard to do with the padded weapons. The softness and friction they exhibit makes it hard to slide them against each other and dampens the "feel". Practice it with wasters, or better yet, steel blunts. There is a really good drill John shows people in which you simply maintain blade contact with wasters and try to touch each other with the blade. You are constantly feeling the pressure on the blades, determining if he is "hard" or "soft" in the bind, seeking an advantage in leverage, and the next thing you know, you're winding! Take it easy at first and/or wear a mask as it's easy to get poked in the face if you do this too agressively.