Fleet of foil as he may be, Tedd Padgitt is no dashing D'Artagnan on the mat.

Try Jack Sparrow. Maybe Blackbeard.

"I love to wear the black hat," says Padgitt, owner and head coach of the Team Touché Fencing Center in San Diego. "If I can intimidate fencers, I will. For me, it's a fight — literally a fight."

Padgitt is one of an estimated 50 competitors expected at this weekend's 10th Annual Hawai'i Open at the Blaisdell Center's Hawai'i Suite. It is hosted by the Hawai'i Division of the United States Fencing Association.

The event, free to the public, features top local and national competitors in foil, epee and sabre.

In addition to his rakishly doffed black hat, Padgitt's figurative wardrobe for the Hawai'i Open includes one very large target.

Padgitt, 30, has dominated the Open in recent years, winning both the open foil and open epee divisions in 2005 and 2006, and winning the foil division last year.

Padgitt enters this weekend's event at less than 100 percent — he's still recovering from a right shoulder injury suffered last month — but he's hardly lacking in confidence.

"I'm going to fence foil left-handed," he said. "I think I can pretty much beat anyone in foil. I'm going to fence epee left-handed, then switch to right hand. Epee is always a challenge."

Padgitt can expect stiff competition in the open mixed epee division from prodigal prodigy Joshua Thurlow, a three-time Hawai'i state champion returning to the sport after more than a year.

The Open marks Thurlow's first competition since the Pacific Coast Championships in 2006. During his hiatus, Thurlow, 21, spent time studying tai chi and the Chinese martial art bagua.

Thurlow is looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Padgitt and, hopefully, exacting a measure of redemption for his last defeat at Padgitt's tip.

"Tedd is a passionate and intense fencer," Thurlow said. "He's got a lot of drive. Back when I was more on top of my game, he certainly did a fine job of kicking my scrawny, little keister.

"If we face each other again, I certainly won't make it easy on him. But whatever the outcome may be, I wouldn't call the match ahead of time."