It’s not a tournament…

It’s more than just a sparring day…

Rising tides is a love letter to HEMA.

The first in a series of events dedicated to a full day of celebrating the arts and the community. With things like:

We have a packed and I mean PACKED roster of instructors coming in from all across the state of Florida.

I’m talking about combined decades of martial arts knowledge, One-on-ones, feedback, and sparring with subject matter experts of their systems.

All 6 classes are included inside the purchase of a single ticket and open to all guests!

⚔︎ Crossroads Swords

Eric has been doing HEMA for over ten years. He is the author of The Use of Medieval Weaponry and the founder of Swordwind Historical Swordsmanship in Charlotte, NC. He teaches multiple weapons across German and Italian traditions, including the longsword, sword and buckler, sword and dagger, sword and cape, two swords, sword and shield, dagger, spear, spear and shield, bill, glaive, halberd, and poleaxe.

⚔︎ Living Steel/Miami historical fencing academy

Born in Cuba, 1998, Jorge began his fencing journey at age 11 in Yucatán, Mexico. He started in foil before transitioning to épée, competing in various national selectives and Olympiads. As an épée fencer, he trained at CARD (Centro de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo), a specialized athletic development school.
At 16, Jorge developed a strong interest in historical fencing and began studying smallsword traditions independently, starting with P.J.F. Girard and eventually focusing on the systems of Angelo and de la Touche. One year later, he became an assistant instructor and later moved to the United States, where he opened a smallsword program for students of all ages at D’Scala Art Academy.
Today, Jorge is an épée coach and smallsword instructor at Davis Fencing Academy, continuing to teach, study, and promote the historical roots of fencing.

⚔︎ Crossroads Swords

Alec has instructed martial arts since 2009, having served as a coach in Muay Thai, MMA, Krav Maga, and a variety of systems in HEMA throughout his combat sports career. He has attained a Top 5 International Ranking in The Saber Legion's Standard and Exotic Sabers categories, with medals in Standard, Exotics, and Tag Team categories. As well as numerous medals in weapons like saber, rapier, rapier and dagger, and sword and buckler. Alec has authored two books, La Academia del Sable de Luz, a manual on the topic of the combat sport based around LED Saber as well as well as The Book & the Blade, a system agnostic manual on contextualizing the fundamental principles across multiple systems.

⚔︎ Bold city longsword

Keith started fencing a long time ago and has done all the bad fencing things so you don't have to. Part of Bold City Longsword since its inception, Keith has been bothering hema people for ten years.

⚔︎ Living Meyer

Victor began his journey into historical fencing under the guidance of Mike Cartier and the dedicated group at the park, where he quickly developed a deep love for this ancient art. Over the years, that passion has only grown allowing them to combine their expertise as a licensed physical therapist with their deep understanding of the texts. Their unique blend of physical therapy and fencing provides a strong foundation in both body mechanics and historical techniques, for beginners and vets alike. A unique take that lets them bring a modern perspective to centuries-old practices.

⚔︎ Leviathan historical fencing

Since the age of 5 years old, Charles possessed an inexplicable intrinsic desire to master historical sword fighting. This seemed like a ridiculous and unattainable goal for most of his life – until he discovered HEMA. Since that very first class, Charles has tirelessly devoted all of his time, energy, and passion into honing his sword fighting craft to make his lifelong dream a reality.
He instructs historical fencing first and foremost as a martial art, focusing on the contextually relevant variables and consequences of a deadly encounter rather than just “winning” bouts.
He began his studies under the lunge/recover systems of Charles Roworth and Domenico Angelo, refining strong oppositional cut-and-thrust work alongside the lightning fast point control and subtle angles of smallsword thrusting. He continued his training with the sophisticated postures of Capoferro’s rapier and branched out into the more dynamic footwork, guards, parries, and attacks of the Bolognese authors. His rigorous training in these arts confirmed one notion stated time and time again by historical sources: Regardless of the system, winning a fight is primarily decided by measure and tempo.
For Charles there is no dormant theory. Techniques quickly find themselves pressure tested and absorbed or discarded, leaving only the laws in which you can rest your attacks and defenses on.