Gareth Thomas

Starting out as a stage combatant in 1987, Gareth began choreographing fight routines for street fairs and community theatre in the early 90's. His studies took him through not only the ranks of the Society of American Fight Directors, but to independent historical swordplay instructors, beginning with Maestro JohnDeCesare, a classically trained fencing master. There he learned not only proper historical technique, but also how to adapt correct historical swordplay for the theatre. In the early 90s he helped create the Order of the Black Rose, an Elizabethen period fencing school for renaissance fair performances and by 1996 had developed Skirmishers, a historical demonstation troupe covering European swordplay of the 16th through 19th centuries.

His passion for historical swordplay developing rapidly, Gareth began training with instuctors Sean Hayes, Bob Charron, Ramon Martinez and Jeanette Acosta-Martinez, among others. This eventually resulted in an invitation by John Lennox and Jared Kirby to attend ISMAC, the International Swordplay and Martial Arts Convention, in Lansing, Michigan.

Gareth assisted John Lennox in the Military Sabre Classes, and the following year had begun to develop his instructional system for cutlass; a system that would include the more brutal tactics of the common fighting man. As cutlass instructor, Gareth also began to branch out in the maritime weapons field taking courses in knife fighting and tomahawk fighting from Instructors James Loriega, Pete Kautz, and Dwight McLemore. It was at one of these events that John and Gareth began discussing maritime combat with Steve Huff, founder of the Historical Martial Study Society, and the Historical Maritime Combat Association was born. In 2005 ISMAC hosted the first Boarding Weapons workshop aboard the Michigan Princess riverboat. The class was an enormous succes and an advanced class is planned for the 2006 convention.

Today, Gareth continues his studies in the Western Martial Arts Field, with a focus on any and all weapons used aboard ships of the 17th to 19th centuries. He is also a contributing author of the upcoming book on maritime combat, "By Sword and Tomahawk" with co-authors John Lennox and Steve Huff.

John "Doc" Lennox

John has trained in various forms of swordplay for over 20 years. Beginning with the katana, he later moved into the western weapon styles. He has been training and conducting research in historic western martial arts for the past nine years. John's main focuses are biomechanics, maritime weaponry, knife, sabre and smallsword. He has taught workshops on these subjects in throughout the U.S. and in Canada, London, Edinburgh and Wuppertal, Germany. He teaches biomechanics, tomahawk and knife and close quarter knife combat at his academy in Jackson, Michigan- Lennox Academy.

John is a Fight Director for Art of Combat, teaches stage combat at Lansing Community College, and is their in-house fight director. He also teaches stage combat and is the in-house fight director for Wayne State University.

John has choreographed fights on several independent films, including "China", and "Dog". John also choreographed "Romeo and Juliet" for Lansing Community College in the fall of 2000. The production was set in the Civil War, and he used Hutton's Saber techniques in the choreography. Following was a project on The Three Musketeers for L.C.C. in the summer of 2002. In this production, the techniques of Capo Ferro, Fabris, and Spanish Rapier were utilized extensively in the choreography, culminating in approximately 9 months of work with the stage combatants in the show.

John holds a Ph.D. in Theatre with minor studies in historical combat. His dissertation explored the relationship between personal combat and stage combat from Shakespeare's day to the early film era.
 

He is currently working on the book By Sword and Tomahawk with Gareth and Steve.

Steve Huff

Steve began his martial arts training over 20 years ago, beginning with Asian styles (including Japanese and Chinese swordsmanship) before branching out into fencing in his late teens. This led to his introduction into the historical Western martial arts, and in the fall of 1999 Steve founded the Historical Martial Study Society, a group devoted to the practice and study of various Western arts.

In the winter of 2000, Steve met Col. Dwight McLemore, well known in the martial arts community for his studies in early American fighting arts. Under Col. McLemore's tutelage, Steve studied the fighting arts of early America and was given a full instructors certification as well as school charter from Col. McLemore in Spring 2004. In the summer of 2004, Steve met John Lennox and Gareth Thomas at ISMAC in Lansing, when, following a class on the cutlass, the three began discussing the weapons and martial tactics used during boarding actions. The three decided to examine these weapons more in-depth, and they taught a class on these weapons at ISMAC 2005. The three are currently working on a book on weapons and tactics of boarding actions for an early 2006 release.

Steve currently works as a high school teacher (history and literature), working in a program with kids with emotional and discipline problems. He has degrees in Ancient/Classical History and Early American History, and is currently working towards a Masters in Teaching. Steve is the founder and owner of the Universal Martial Study Center in Waldorf, a mixed-martial arts training facility that offers both Eastern and Western martial arts as well as modern self-defense training. Steve also gives lectures and seminars for local colleges and high schools on a variety of topics from feudal Japanese society to the lifestyle of the colonial frontiersman.

 Acknowledged Instructors

These instructors are recognized by the HMCA as Instructors in historical maritime combat:

Santa Clara, CA.: Steaphen Fick, Davenriche European Martial Artes School http://www.davenriche.com

Surry, Virginia: Dwight C. McLemore
The School of Two Swords
540 Blue Heron Drive
Surry, Virginia 23883
(e-mail d-mclemore@worldnet.att.net
Home Phone: (757) 294 0460
Cell: (757) 846-1370

New York, N.Y.: Maestro Ramon Martinez, Martinez Academy of Arms http://www.martinez-destreza.com

Brooklyn, N.Y.: Maestro James Loriega, Raven Arts institute of Sevillian Steel http://www.sevilliansteel.com

Edinburgh, Scotland: Maestro Paul Macdonald, Macdonald Academy of Arms

http://www.historicalfencing.org/Macdonaldacademy

Vancouver, Canada: F. Braun McAsh

address: 228 S. Hythe, Burnaby B.C. V5B 3H9

Chicago, Illinois: Tony Wolf

email: tonywolf@gmail.com

Wuppertal, Germany: Stefan Dieke

email: info@alte-kampfkunst.de

Darlington, England: Mark Donnelly

email: MPDonnelly@btinternet.com

Sydney, Australia: Kyle Rowling

email: kyle@sydneystagecombat.com

                                     Assistant Instructors

Jackson, Mi.: Kelley McNabb

email: KCo333@hotmail.com

Weapons: Knife, Flexible Weapons

Hayward, Ca.: Chris Mead

email: fandango_on@yahoo.com

Weapons: Pike, Knife, Tomahawk

Eugene, Or.: Sierra Dillon

email: gypsy_navajera@yahoo.com

Weapons: Knife, Cutlass

San Francisco, Ca.:Thomas Badillo
email: aiki_sword@yahoo.com
Weapons: Barong, Spada y Daga, Navaja, Tomahawk and Long Knive, Cutlass, Boarding Axe