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About Us
The Weston Whirlwinds have been participating in North
American Flyball Association flyball tournaments since 2000.
The mission of the Weston Whirlwinds Flyball Team
is above all to have fun with our canine companions while
training to be the best we can be and exhibiting good
sportsmanship.
The Weston Whirlwinds Hurricanes (Gehrig, Henna, Remi, and Zak)
are the 2018 CanAm Multibreed Division 4 Champions.
Regular Team Best Time: 17.238 seconds, October 2013
(Gunnar, Mattingly, Finn and Krave, jumping 8 inches).
Multibreed Team Best Time: 18.479 seconds, November 2012
(Mattingly, Eika, Addie, and Zak, jumping 9 inches).
About Flyball
Flyball is a relay race for teams of dogs in which each of the four dogs on a team must run down a 51 foot course, jump four hurdles, trigger a "box" which releases a tennis ball, and return back over the hurdles with the ball. Each dog must run in turn and may not cross the start line before the previous dog has returned.
Races occur between pairs of teams running on parallel courses and are electronically timed; sometimes races are decided by as little as one thousandth of a second.
A fast-paced sport open to dogs of all sizes and breeds, Flyball is unique among dog sports in that it is truly a team sport - all the dogs on the team as well as their handlers must work together in order for the team to be successful.
Latest News
Merging with Patriot Flyball
Weston Whirlwinds and Patriot Flyball will be joining forces
and becoming one club under the name Patriot Flyball.
In the words of Weston Whirlwinds club owner Cindy Henderson:
Watch this space for more information as the merge
progresses. Note that team practices remain the same
(Sunday mornings at 8am at Canine New England, when the
facility is available). In addition, some of the club
members participate in Canine New England's drop-in Flyball
training sessions on Wednesdays from 7 to 9 pm.
CanAm 2019
Weston Whirlwinds Thunder placed 4th in Open 4 on
Friday, 3rd in Open 3 on Saturday, and 2nd in Open 3 on Sunday
at the 11th annual CanAm Classic tournament, October 11-13 at
the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, IN.
The team of Cedar, Gehrig, Jessie, Torre, and Dillon,
augmented by Bella from NASDOG, had trouble finding their
rhythm on Friday but pulled it together on Saturday and
Sunday for a quite respectable showing with some very tight
races. Saturday included one race (against Shenanigans
Unleashed) that went to five heats, with the last heat
ending up in a 19.565 second tie. On Sunday the Open 3
division ended up with a 3-way tie for first place that was
decided on tiebreakers.
Weston Whirlwinds went to Indianapolis this year with
a very small group - only 3 handlers and 5 dogs - and
we are very grateful for all of our friends who helped
us out, including Jeff from NASDOG who ran Bella with us,
and everyone from Ready, Set, Ruckus! who boxloaded for
us for the entire tournament. Many many thanks - we couldn't
have done it without you!
Such a fun event - we're already looking forward to next year!
End of Summer 2019
Weston Whirlwinds Hurricanes placed 3rd in Multi 1,
while Thunder placed 4th in Open 2 and Patriot
Flyball's Starting Lineup placed 1st in Open 1 at
our own End of Summer tournament, September 28-29 at Canine
New England in Walpole, MA.
Co-hosted by Patriot Flyball, the tournament featured a
breakfast hospitality table, potluck lunches, placement
prizes, title ribbons, and plenty of fun racing. New team
member Maris was introduced to Flyball as she attended
her very first tournament.
With a primary goal of getting Wicked on the board,
Thunder (Cedar, Zak, Finn, Henna, and Wicked
with backup by Gehrig) had trouble finding a rhythm but in
the end succeeded in getting Wicked her first Flyball points
and her FD title. In addition, Junior Handler Alex did an
outstanding job of running Finn the entire tournament. We
saw some pretty tight passes out there and were very impressed.
Well done team!
Thunder (Gehrig, Phantom, Max, Stella, and Odo)
ran very well, and there were some tight races with the
competition. Phantom in particular is coming along nicely,
and Gehrig posted some 3.9's running start. All in
all a very good tournament for this group.
Starting Lineup (GG, Thor, Jessie, Torre, and Dillon)
blew away their competition, easily winning first place in
the division by a wide margin. Junior Handler Peyton continued
to impress, running GG in start for several heats. Well
done!
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here.
Shark Rush Fully Loaded 2019
In their first foray ever to Napanee, Weston Whirlwinds
Thunder placed 3rd in Open 4, while their sister team
Patriot Flyball's Starting Lineup placed 2nd in Open
1 at the Shark Rush Fully Loaded tournament, August 31 -
September 1 at the Napanee Fairgrounds in Napanee,
Ontario. Both teams arrived at the tournament with a mission
- Thunder (Arizona, Jessie, Henna, Addie, Scarlet,
and Torre) were determined to get Addie as close as possible
to her FGDCh-50 title, and Starting Lineup wanted to
see how fast the lineup of Cedar, Gehrig, GG, and Thor could
go. In the end, both teams achieved their goals admirably.
Thunder had the most drama of the two teams. Addie
needed just 535 points to get her title, but with a 3 of 5
format, only 8 races to run, and a seed time that was at the
bottom of the division, the team would have to run clean for
as many heats as possible to achieve their goal. In
addition, the team's one really fast dog came into heat just
a week and a half before the tournament and had to drop out
of the tournament, which left them scrambling for a
replacement. Luckily Arizona and Scarlet from 2 Fast Fur U
were available, and so the team went into the tournament
with paws crossed that they could jell quickly enough to
get the job done.
Going into their 7th race, Addie needed just 83 points.
Thunder ran clean and won the first heat, ran
clean and lost the second heat, and then ran clean
and won the third heat. Everyone held their breath
as the fourth heat began - Arizona ... clean, Jessie ... clean,
Henna ... clean, Addie ... clean! Time - 22.379, and Addie
had her title!
Starting Lineup was simply impressive and fast
the entire tournament. Aside from their second race
when everything seemed to go wrong all at once, the
team ran cleanly in the low 17's and upper 16's almost
the entire time. Even more impressive, they posted
their fastest time - 16.434 - in the first heat of
their last race of the day, and closed the tournament
with a 16.654. Really fun to watch!
Other highlights of the tournament included Henna running
in start for the first time in a long time and posting some
blistering (for her) 5.1's while doing it. Henna also ran
for the first time ever with another Toller when both she and
Scarlet were in the lineup together for 4 races (it was a first
for Scarlet as well). There was some confusion as to which
dog was going to be the more ball-obessed but they worked it
out and ran well together.
We owe a huge thanks to Lisa from 2 Fast Fur U for letting
Arizona and Scarlet run with us on Thunder on such
short notice, and to Lorraine and Nancy for letting Cedar
and Gehrig run with you on Starting Lineup. Also a
huge thanks to Lorraine for boxloading for Thunder -
you did a get job of keeping up with the lineup changes!
Congratulations to Addie for earning your FGDCh-50K, and
have fun in your well-deserved retirement.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here, and a video slideshow
of the pictures can be seen
here. Also, a video of Thunder
in race 85 can be seen
here.
Pawsapalooza 2019
Weston Whirlwinds Hurricanes placed 4th in Multi 1,
while Thunder placed 4th in Open 3 and Patriot Flyball's
Open team placed 3rd in Open 2 at 2 Fast Fur U's
first ever Pawsapalooza tournament, June 8-9 at the Wayne
County Fairgrounds in Palmyra, NY. After racing on Saturday
there was a hot dog social, or for the more adventuresome
there was fine dining overlooking the Erie Canal. We all had
a good time catching up with friends and enjoying the absolutely
gorgeous weather.
All three teams started the tournament strong and ended
strong as well. The Hurricanes (Cedar, Gehrig,
Henna, and Dillon, with backup by Zak and warmups by Poison)
were very steady the entire weekend, and ran several races
where they posted four heats without a fault. Poison was
able to get in several warmup runs and looked pretty good
out there, although not quite ready to run for real.
Thunder (Gunnar, Jessie, Zak, and Addie with
backup by Gehrig) for the most part decided to go with
three-of-four-clean-heats throughout most of the tournament,
except for one race where they ran all four heats cleanly.
Gunnar, who was coming back from an injury and had appeared
doubtful for the tournament, ended up running very steadily
the entire time. Jessie and Zak were their usual consistent
selves, and Addie continues to surprise us with her longevity.
Both teams did extremely well with a schedule that featured
4 races on Saturday and 5 on Sunday, not something we're used
to, so we were very happy with their performance.
The Patriot Flyball Open team (GG, Thor, Phantom, and
Torre with warmups by Wicked and backup by Cedar) also
looked very good. Wicked was able to get in several warmup
runs, and she also took a stab at a real heat late in the
tournament on Sunday. Unfortunately she didn't earn any
points but she is looking very close to getting there for
real. The team also tried out the lineup of GG, Thor,
Phantom, and Cedar just to see what would happen, and broke
out twice as a result. That was one fast lineup - very fun
to watch.
All in all, even though the teams didn't place very well, everyone
had a good time and had fun.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here,
and a timelapse-ish video can be seen
here.
Greenfield Derby 2019
The Bid for the Balls! Weston Whirlwinds Hurricanes
placed 2nd in Multi 1, Thunder placed 3rd in Open 3,
and the combined Weston Whirlwinds-Patriot Flyball team
Starting Lineup placed 4th at the 2019 edition of the
Greenfield Derby, May 4-5 at the Franklin County Fair in
Greenfield, MA.
The Hurricanes (Cedar, Gehrig, Zak and Henna with Finn
and Torre as backupts) ran very well the entire tournament
and posted a best time of 19.527. Cedar was very consistent
in start and Gehrig appeared to be settling in to a new
role running 2nd in the lineup. Zak was his usual steady
self, and Henna looked to be returning to form after a couple
of rough tournaments. Well done, team!
Thunder (Gunnar, Jessie, Stella, Torre, and Finn with
Gehrig as backup) had problems the entire tournament and
just couldn't seem to find their rhythm. Both Finn and
Gunnar came up lame - Finn after Saturday and Gunnar at the
end of the day on Sunday - and had to drop out of racing,
forcing Gehrig into double duty for the team's last race.
One bright spot was when they unexpectedly won the bucket of
balls for the closest heat of the tournament - a very
hard-fought contest in the first heat of their last race
that went 23.446 seconds to 23.463 seconds in their favor. Well
done!
Starting Lineup (GG, Thor, Phantom, and Addie
with backup by Dillon and warmups by Apollo from BARK)
ran fairly steadily both days with some exceptions. Dillon
played a pivotal role, doing a great job when he had to come
in for Phantom late in the tournament. Both Thor and Phantom
earned their FDCh-S titles; congratulations to both!
The weather wasn't perfect but it wasn't awful either;
Saturday afternoon and evening in particular were quite
nice. The team hung out in the Dole building during the day
and enjoyed playing cornhole with the Ruff Enuff crew and
chatting with their Flyball friends at the Hot Dog Social.
Many thanks to Keely and Ciara for ball shagging for us!
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here
and a video slideshow can be seen
here (don't blink!).
Spring Fling 2019
Spring has sprung! Weston Whirlwinds Thunder placed
2nd in Open 3, the Hurricanes took 4th in Multi 1,
and the combined Weston Whirlwinds-Patriots Flyball
Starting Lineup team took 1st in Open 2 at the 2019 Spring
Fling tournament, April 6-7 at the Dover Ice Arena in Dover,
NH.
Both Thunder (Cedar, Max, Stella, Odo, and Addie,
with Poison doing warmups) and the Hurricanes
(Gehrig, Henna, Jessie, and Zak with backup by Dillon and
Torre) had their problems, but there
were some bright spots in an otherwise difficult
tournament: Cedar performed very well in start, hitting a
new personal best of 3.7 seconds; Dillon earned his FM; and
Poison was very steady in her warmups. Well done, Cedar, Dillon,
and Poison!
Starting Lineup (GG, Thor, Gunnar, Torre, and
Phantom with backup by Gehrig) ran very well the entire
tournament and helped Phantom earn her FDCh. Their biggest
problem was avoiding breaking out, especially when Phantom
was running instead of Torre. They did break out once, and
were within a tenth of a second of breaking out in a couple
of other heats later in the tournament when Phantom was
getting better at passing. Many thanks to Lorraine and
Nancy for letting Gunnar, Torre, and Phantom run with you.
Congratulations to Junior Handler Peyton for running GG and
Zak, and thank you to Keely, Ciara, and Celeste for ball shagging.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here.
2019 St. Paddy's Day Tournament
Weston Whirlwinds Thunder placed 2nd in Open 2 while
the Hurricanes placed 3rd in Multi 1
and Lightning placed 3rd in Regular 2 at our very own
St. Paddy's Day Tournament, March 16-17 at Canine New
England in Walpole, MA.
This was the very first Flyball tournament at Canine New
England and everyone pitched in to make sure things ran
smoothly. Setup on Friday took a little longer than
anticipated as we worked out the best way to lay out the
mats, plus we had to deal with half of the lights being
missing somewhere in the UPS delivery system. But much to
everyone's relief everything was in place and working in
time for single dog racing at 6pm Friday (many thanks to
Lorraine for camping out at the UPS facility until they dug
up the remaining EJS case).
Because it was such a small tournament we were not able to
offer all of the usual frills, but instead stocked a
hospitality table both days and hosted a potluck lunch on
Saturday. Both of these extras were well received and we
will seriously consider doing them again at future
tournaments.
The teams had a little trouble shaking off the winter blahs.
Thunder (Gunnar, Jessie, Torre, and Addie) were the
most consistent team, and the veteran dogs provided a solid
core for Phantom's Flyball debut. Phantom did an absolutely
marvelous job, racking up 125 points and earning both her FD
and FDX titles. We're looking for big things from her in
future tournaments.
Lightning (Gehrig, Henna, Zak, and Stella, with backup
by Dillon and warmups by Poison) had more trouble finding
a rhythm but ran fairly well. Dillon in particular was very
impressive when he replaced Stella in the middle of the third
race on Sunday and had to run without a warmup - something he
doesn't usually like to do. Well done Dillon!
The Hurricanes (Cedar, Max, Finn, and Odo with
warmups by Wicked) also had their problems but in the end
ran OK. Cedar earned his FDCh-S, and Wicked was able to do
several successful warmup runs and also ran a live heat in
several of the races.
Congratulations to our Junior Handlers Ciara (ball
shagging), Linnea (Finn), and Alex (Finn) and special
congratulations to Peyton for running Lorraine's GG in start
on Patriot Flyball's Starting Lineup team. Thanks
also to Keely for running the raffle table and to Celeste
for ball shagging.
Pictures of the tournament can be seen
here.
