Cold Silat

Dogs and I work the platform, 32º F., wind chill at 18º F. ... See that little puddle behind Jude, next to the pantjar? Frozen dog pee ...

Online Training

Guru Stevan Plinck

Heads-up, Sera Plinck's students: If you haven't joined Guru's online training site yet, and you are a student of his at any level, you should do this. The cost is nominal, and you will learn things from it, whatever your level, trust me. I've been doing it longer than most of you, and I'm seeing things in ways I didn't see before. 

Do it. 

 stevanplinck.com

Platform

Major Announcement

Folks, Maha Guru Plinck now has his own web page. This will be the official source for all things Silat Sera Plinck, and there is a membership section that will offer videos and training tips for students of various levels. The fees for this are small, and certainly any of Maha Guru's students will see the value.

The members area has a couple of placeholder vids, but there will be more to come soon.

You can get there by clicking on the link above, or the one in the sidebar.

There is also a presence on FaceBook, which you can access by plugging in his name.

New Parang

New parang, by Jeff Crowner ...

The Winds Blow ...

Though I don't spend much time there, now and again I get a note from Silat.TV. The latest pointed me to a couple of proclamations by Willem de Thouars, who refers to himself as "Sir Willem de Thouars," and "The Manggoose of Denver." (sic).

In these posts, Willem, the brother of the late Paul de Thouars, goes on at some length about the state of Sera(k). Aside from really needing to get somebody fluent in English to edit his posts, Willem could also do with a memory refresher, since his previous posts about this subject seem to offer more than a couple of contradictions. 

For years, Willem disclaimed any connection with the family art. Not him, he said, he was Kun Tao Silat de Thouars, got his training elsewhere, wanted nothing to do with Sera(k).  Didn't get along with Paul, nor Victor, and leave him alone.

Now, it turns out, he was actually the first de Thouars to learn the eighteen Sera(k) djurus, at the tender age of ten years, from Uncle Ventje.

Wow. Who knew? 

In his latest ramblings, Willem allows that Paul told him in confidence that he wanted the lineage to go to his son, Marcelino, and so Willem has taken it upon himself to show his support for that: "MARCELINO DE THOUARS IS NOW THE HEAD OF MY BROTHERS SYSTEMS."

I knew there would be a scramble coming for those who wanted to step up and claim the lineage, said so here, and allowed as how Maha Guru Plinck wasn't interested in playing that game. 

Willem's also offers his support of his "adopted serak son," Santiago Dobles, to help his nephew Marce further the arts of Sera(k) and Bukti. I have to say, I'd be surprised if Santiago doesn't step away from this in a hurry; given as how he is running Maha Guru's FaceBook page, and Willem is allowing that "Plinck has nothing to offer ..." and "a big ego."

Neither he (Stevan) nor his students are welcome in Willem's home. Don't call, don't drop 'round.

Aw, gee. Really? Breaks my heart. 

This was put forth, along with several other choice tidbits about how little Plinck, his arrogant students, and Paul's other students know, in a post entitled "No More Support of Stevan Plinck, By the magus of Denver" on June 30th, just past.

It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad. 

Well, actually, it is funny and sad ...

UPDATE: So I reached out to Santiago in an email and asked him about this. Went back and forth. He wanted me to call him, but I said, it's a yes-or-no question: Willem said such-and-such about Guru Plinck -- do you agree? 

He wasn't willing to answer in email. 

Make of that what you will.

Steel

Check out the parang Jeff Crowner is building for Guru Plinck ...

Blade Work

We have been working on long and short knives in combination recently. These are relative terms, "long," and "short," of course, but in this case, the short knives bear six-inch blades (15 cm) and the long ones are about 15 inches (38 cm.) Plus or minus a bit.

The longer blades are shorter than a machete, but more than twice the length of the sheath-style knives, and we work them as primary and secondary tools, respectively.

Guru's comments are that these camp-length knives are apt to be more useful in urban situations than machetes or swords. Don't see a lot of folks carrying swords these days ...

Length matters: the ways one uses a sword are different than the ways one uses machetes, camp-knives, belt-knives, or folders. Similar, but timing and distance have to be factored in when the reach changes. 

There are practice blades one can buy that are the right length, but our own Todd Ellner has gotten some of that heavy-duty plastic, and sawed out some practice blades of his own, or other students' designs, one of which he did for me, pictured above. He does them in black or white. I did a little filework and some sanding to finish it, and it is as good as any of the commercial models I have seen. Heavy, thick, and able to withstand a class of banging it against similar instruments, no problem.

Other news:

I would be remiss in not pointing out that Santiago Dobles has put up a blog/web page for Maha Guru Plinck. There is a lot of good information there, and it's worth checking out if you are a Silat Sera Plinck player. History, background, photos, contact information. 

(I would also be remiss if I didn't point out that Santiago and I have had some heated disagreements, and I am not his biggest fan; however, he and Guru have their relationship, and it's not about me, it's about what serves our teacher ...)