Jean Laffite Classic

The Jean Laffite Classic is the Galveston Fencing Club’s traditional spring tournament.

Competitions are held in foil, epee and sabre. Unlike the Naomia Abbott Memorial, this tournament is open to both men and women. It consists of competitions between fencers who have not yet achieved a USFA competitive letter ranking. All competitors must be unranked and members of the United States Fencing Association. USFA memberships are available at the event.

Named in homage to Galveston’s swashbuckling past, the purpose of the Jean Laffite Classic is to give upcoming fencers an opportunity for an even field in which to achieve their first competitive letter classification.

The first Jean Laffite Classic was held in the spring of 2007 and consisted of a single event, mixed foil. There were seven competitors, small, but enough to make the competition an E1, with the winner, Anthony Tierney of the South Houston High School Fencing Team, receiving an E07 classification.

The next year, in the spring of 2008, there were 13 competitors for mixed foil. Not quite enough for a D1 tournament (15), but still enough for Thomas Coen of the Bayou City Fencing Academy to win a hard-fought E08.

The same year mixed epee was added. There were seven competitors, allowing the winner, Norm Schmieder of St. Louis to win his E08 in epee.

For the spring 2009 Jean Laffite Classic it was decided to add sabre, thus offering competitions in all three weapons.