Learn the disengage in fencing: the point passes under the opponent’s blade into the other line. Technique, drills, mistakes and rules for all three weapons.
What do I do when the opponent keeps catching my blade? The honest answer: you go around. The disengage (technical term cavation, Italian Cavation [1]) is an indirect attack: the point makes the same forward movement as in the straight thrust, but with a screw-like movement around the opponent's guard [1], and hits in the other line. The FIE calls any attack that finishes in another line indirect [2].
The disengage applies to foil, épée and sabre. In sabre the rulebook allows the attack to be completed direct, by disengagement or by cutover when the opponent's blade is not in line [2]. And it is the bridge to the feint – it is your way past the parry.
Realistically: you learn the hand movement in one or two sessions. Landing it reliably under pressure takes months – experience.
You stand in the guard, the point on the side into which your partner parries (for example the inside line). Your partner holds the blade still.
You carry the point under their blade into the opposite line. The movement comes from the fingers and wrist, not from the whole arm. The circle is small: your blade should hardly touch the other.
While the point changes line, you extend the arm toward the target [1]. The lunge follows; arm extension must begin before the lunge [1].
If your partner parries simply (for example quarte), the disengage gets through. If they parry circularly, they will usually catch you (practice). Practise when which answer comes.
After a successful parry you can also riposte indirectly: a riposte by disengagement is a hit in the opposite line in which the blade passes under the opponent's blade when the parry was formed in the high line [2].
Milestone: when you land ten slow disengages against a calm partner without elbow or shoulder giving way, and then hit against a simple parry, move on to the feint and the beat.
Drill (practice): in pairs, three stages. First your partner holds the blade still in the inside line, you disengage to the outside line and hit. Then he parries simply, you disengage exactly as he moves. Finally he alternates between a simple and a circular parry; that teaches you when the disengage pays off. Each stage until ten hits in a row work. If the point visibly swings out when you disengage, go back one step in the sequence.
As in all partner drills: mask, glove and jacket for both; practice thrusts controlled, never with the point at the mask mesh. The injury risk in fencing is low: 0.28 time-loss injuries per 1000 starts at international competitions, just under three per 10,000 starts; most are sprains and strains of the leg [4]. Warm up the wrist before many repetitions. This guide explains and motivates – it does not replace supervised training.
A disengage is better the smaller it is. Practise it first in front of a mirror with the aim that your blade barely touches the opponent's. If the opponent points at you with an extended arm ("blade in line"), under the FIE rules you must first take their blade aside before attacking – mere contact is not enough [2]. The beat (next guide) helps there; the disengage is then the finish.
An indirect attack: the blade makes the same forward movement as in the straight thrust but with a screw-like movement around the opponent's guard and hits in the other line [1]. Technical term: cavation.
In the disengage your blade passes under the opponent's (in the riposte after a high parry); in the coupé it passes over the opponent's point [1][2]. The point first moves back and then immediately forward again [1].
Yes. In the FIE rules for sabre it states explicitly that the attack may be completed direct, by disengagement or by cutover when the opponent's blade is not in line [2]. In épée there is no right of way, the action stays the same [1].
In front of a mirror: the point aims at a fixed spot, you carry the blade in a small arc under an imagined blade and back. Count slowly with a metronome, watch elbow and shoulder. You cannot replace the timing with a partner this way.
The Beat (Battuta) in Fencing: The Blade Tap That Opens the Attack