That’s how the MC for this afternoon’s joust at the Upper Canada Village Medieval Festival described what they were about to do. It was certainly thrilling. Four “knights” in authentic armor charged at each other through the lists with enormous Douglas Fir lances, bent on unhorsing the other. Points were awarded for a touch, a shattered lance and an “unhorsing”.
In this sequence, two knights charge at each other. On contact, the blue knight’s lance is shattered in his hand, and the remains of the lance are seen in the next photograph, as the knight mounted on the white horse rides past the broken lance.
In this sequence, the knight on the white horse has struck the blue knight in the helmet with this lance. You can see the shattered handle in his hands, as well as the wood flexing as the lance glances off the helmet of the blue knight, and the shattered pieces fly away.
And in this short video shot from my iPhone using QiK, both knights are unhorsed.
The Medieval Festival continues tomorrow at Upper Canada Village. It’s a cheap and thrilling way to spend a family afternoon. Jousts, hand to hand combat, trebuchets, and more. Highly recommended.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
