It is December. We are within the period where, at least over the last few years, we open registration for the next year's event. When we originally decided to open registration in December, we had visions of HEMA-significant-others registering their sword-swinging partners for Christmas. However, due to the severe shortening of time in which tournament slots remain open, this is no longer a stable vision. We will be moving registration to January. Registration will open on January 10th at noon, EST, for our July 6th - 9th event.

We do have some information to share, though!

The Hilton Baltimore

We have a new fencing hall and hotel this year. We outgrew Turf Valley in 2014, and were contracted through 2015. With 25,000 sq feet of ballroom space and 19,000 sq feet of lobby space at the Hilton, we have over double the space to expand into.  With plenty of bars and restaurants within walking distance, we've solved the food isolation problem we've had. With direct service from the airport to the venue using the light rail, we've solved the transportation problem. And with exponentially more hotel room space in and nearby, we've solved the sleeping space problem. This is a big move for us, but it is a very good move. Baltimore's Inner Harbor is a fantastic location to hold an event like ours.

Tournaments

Here is a list of the events we are planning to run in 2017:

•  Longsword - Tier 1, Tier 2, Rookie, and Women's
• Cutting - Advanced, Intermediate, and Beginner
• Paired Technique
• Ringen - 5 weight classes
• Passage At Arms
• Rapier & Dagger
• Sword & Buckler
• Messer
• Singlestick - Light gear

We potentially have space for, across the 4 Longsword events, 236 fighters. With the addition of the Tier 1 tournament, split out from the Open (now Tier 2), we have three tiers of mixed competition for the longsword. The admittance for the Rookie Training Tournament will remain the same as previous years; you can't have participated in it before and you can't have made it out of pools in any other regional or larger tournament. Registration rules for Tier 1 will be released before registration goes live, but will be based on prior tournament placements or demonstrable experience. This means that we should see some more new faces at the top of the formerly Open bracket, and the more experienced fighters will have to fight even harder to get to those same slots in their own, new bracket.

Classes and Workshops

We are currently working on inviting instructors from around the world, but we have more class space this year than we've ever had before. Within a week, we will be posting a form for instructors who would like to submit a class to Longpoint. This will help us fill out our class offerings, and put classes in front of us that we may be ignorant of. If you have a favorite instructor, encourage them to complete this form!

As 2017 looms closer, we are preparing for another busy season of planning and execution. We hope that you'll join us again, or for the first time, this year. If it IS your first time, as Jake Norwood asks at the opening ceremony each year, "Where have you guys been!?"