Photos and commentary by Mike Heard

Open land series was a triple thrown from right to left. Right hand birds had white ribbons on them so the dogs could see the birds better with the background and tall sage. The middle bird was a hip pocket to the flyer. Land blind was not ran within the marks. We ran off the same hill but due to the wind the judges chose to run a cross wind blind behind the marks through the sage. Up front was a sage bush with an open hole the dogs had to go through right off the line, from there down the hill through a brief open field and a gradual slope up into the various sage field. To the right of the line thick sage, to the left of the sage open grass areas, the true line was on the edge of both. Behind that dogs fell off a little hill and disappeared for a brief time as they came up the other side through the sage brush. Dogs weaved their way through the sage and up to the end of the blind. The strong cross wind was from left to right.

Amateur water blind was your standard get in the water, over a point out to sea and head to the other side and up the hill to the end of the blind. Some dogs did NOT want to get into the water and skirted the shoreline ending up out of the water way too early, others went in a little wide into the water and others had trouble on the point and yet some had a difficult time at the end climbing up and to the left away from blind going up the hill. The wind was increasing with each dog that ran and was right in the dogs face as they headed to the blind so blowing loud whistles was necessary.

The weather was COLD! Friday a cold front hit the trial with a strong wind and rain. The weather did improve by the time the land blind started with the exception of the wind. Overall the entire weekend was cold especially water temperatures which took it’s toll on the Derby dogs with only 3 dogs finishing and placing. The cold water did not seem to effect the Am and Open dogs as much, although, a few dogs did avoid the water as much as they could on the blinds. The wind was the biggest weather factor for the entire trial. The wind was not blowing at a constant direction and strong gusts developed ahead and behind a cold front. Sunday was not as windy but it was not calm either. Depending upon what time you ran your dog, some had a light wind with no rain and others ran in a pouring rain with strong 20+ mph winds. Luck can play a big role in this game!

Temperatures dipped into the upper 20′s Sunday morning and highs only reached the lower 50′s for a few hours in the late afternoon. Despite the chilly weather the dogs ran well and we greatly appreciate the workers in the field for braving the cold wet and windy weather for us to run our dogs.

The SRFTC folks put on a well organized and planned event and everything run very smoothly so it was fun for all of us. Thanks Samish Retriever Field Trial Club! Look forward to running your event again next year.