Parasol Duelling Down Under!

Wonderful Competition.

Just received this report of a Parasol Duelling competition held recently in Australia!
A fascinating variation on the standard rules.

Looks like a lot of fun was had under the hot bright summer Sun in Australia.

Well done Ladies and Gentlemen, looking forward to hearing about your next competition!

Keep your sightglass full your firebox trimmed and your water iced.
KJ

Parasol Duelling

Goulburn Steampunk & Victoriana Fair

Hosted by

The Steampunk Crew of the Airship Sirius

Dec 2014

TheCrew of the Airship Sirius proudly hosted their first ever Parasol Duelling contest at the Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Fair last weekend, Sunday the 7^th of December 2014. The Fair was a fun-filled event hosted by the Goulburn Waterworks Museum, consisting of Victorian dancing, steampunk market stalls, tea duelling, tours of the 1880s steam powered waterworks, and of course parasol duelling. The event was small but well attended and enjoyed by all. 

The Parasol duelling on the day was hosted by The Crew of the Airship Sirius steampunk group and sponsored by Skav’s Steampunk Workshop. The Crew’s very own Dr John Yardley, ship’s surgeon, was the overseer or referee for the event. The days’ event consisted of; an introduction to parasol duelling and its history; a morning demonstration duel; another demonstration in the afternoon followed by the contest itself. The demonstrations were performed by Inventor aboard the Sirius, Beibhinn O’Donnell, and ships cook and seamstress, Lucia Handcock Dickson. Registrations for the event where taken throughout the day.

Demonstration by Inventor Beibhinn O’Donnell,
and ships cook and seamstress, Lucia Handcock Dickson.
Photo by Steven Shaw

Dr John Yardley, ship’s surgeon,
the overseer or referee for the event.
Photo by Steven Shaw

The rules used for the duels on the day were a modified version of the traditional rules to make it easier for beginners to the sport, and the rule set favoured by the crew due to the confined  spaced aboard the airship. Though the sport is normally an all-female affair the contest was open to both sexes, as there is no gender discrimination aboard The Airship Sirius.

The contest itself had a modest turnout of 12 participants. The contest was played with participants paired up in the usual manor, they then fought the best of three duels, with the loser being eliminated and the winner going on to the next round. Winners then played winners and so on for 3 rounds until only two participants remained. The last two participants were a Gentleman by the name of Simon, and one Lady Madeline, both of the Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy. The whole event was a clean fought contest with the Doctor only having interject on a couple of occasions, only one parasol was damaged, due to an over excited Snub, and fun was had by all involved.

The final duel was hard fought, with it being extended from the normal best of three, due to the participants repeatedly drawing the same move to their opponent. Finally the match came to sudden death with Simon claiming victory with a well-executed Twirl, beating Lady Madeline’s Plant. 

The winning Move, Simon claiming victory with a well-executed Twirl, beating Lady Madeline’s Plant.

Simon, of the Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy was then awarded with a lovely commemorative victor’s certificate and a medal, made by Skav of Skav’s Steampunk Workshop himself.

Ed: These are the rules that were used. Slightly different from the Brandenburg Variation but certainly workable!

Airship Sirius Parasol Duelling Rules

The rules of parasol duelling itself are similar to that of the well-known game of “scissors paper rock”. It consists is based around three main moves;

1.      The Twirl - is like paper and is performed as follows, the parasol is opened and placed across, but not touching, the shoulder and twirled.

2.      The Snub - like scissors, it is performed by holding the Parasol towards the opponent and opening then closing it. And finally

3.      The Plant - like rock, the Parasol is held point down to the ground at the side of the player.

So Plant beats Snub, Twirl beats Plant, and Snub beats Twirl.

The Duel:

1) The Opponents stand back to back, parasols held with one hand on the handle and the other 1/3 of the way from the top around the closed parasol.

2) The parasol is held across the body at a comfortable angle that must not exceed 60 degrees from the horizontal.

3) The Doctor ascertains if the opponents are ready.

4) On receiving an affirmative reply from both opponents, the Doctor counts One! Two! Three! Turn!

5) Each opponent takes one step forward for each count.

6) After the third pace the opponents turn to face each other.

7) The Doctor then begins to count out loud to three and then calls out loudly “Draw” then "Hold!"

8) During the counting the opponents try out each of the three positions in order Snub, Twirl, Plant. Then on the draw hold they choose one of the positions and remain in it.

9) The winner of that round is then declared according to the rules. The duel normally consists of three rounds. If the participants display the same position the round is a tie and they play again.

Tournament rules:

Competitors, two at a time, duel before the group. The winner of each match groups together with the other winners, the loser of the match is eliminated. Each match consists of the best of three duels.

Once only the winners remain they will then pair up and duel once again in the same manner, and so on and so forth until only two competitors remain. They then duel off and the overall winner announced and presented with their prize.

Summary:

Plant = Rock Twirl = Paper Snub = Scissors

Plant > Snub Twirl > Plant Snub > Twirl