So that was Summer

April 28, 2022 Leave a comment

So that was the Summer

It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an update, especially those who like following my travels around the countryside. Covid of course put a stop to all that some time ago and there’s certainly many customers and friends whose company I miss when staying with them.  There’s always plenty of memories and stories to catch up on.

Flying Elevens on the Lake at Belmont

The last few months of weekends have been spent at home, with just a few chasing a variety of fleets that DeckHardware has supported. Trying to get ‘the shot’ whilst not getting in the way of any competitor. There’s been several trips to both Lake Macquarie and to Gosford, luckily the traffic either way hasn’t been too bad.

Flying Elevens at Gosford

One thing that is a little different now that we are using the RIB more, is our knowledge of where all the boat ramps are and the  facilities provided like parking, pontoons and if there are toilets. We had been going to one at Lake Macquarie that is visible from the road when driving past, however there’s no pontoon to tie up to whilst getting in the queue.  We’ve now found another with a pontoon.

A lovely day on Lake Macquarie

Then there’s the sight seeing, going through moored boats, ‘Ohh that’s where it ended up’. Those yachts that we may have competed against in the past.  Of course when you can do 25knots, it’s easy to get around, to and from a race course area. Certainly less hassles than being on the road.

Last weekend, I got back into the swing of things. I hit the road and went out on the water as the events PRO. I headed 4 hours south of Sydney for the annual Batemans Bay Sailing Club regatta, held around ANZAC Day each year. Numbers were down from last year, but the keen competition was still there. We had Six divisions across the main fleet course area and another couple of Sailability divisions inshore.

Division One bottom mark at Batemans Bay

Division One was a combination of mixed, Sharpies, 505s and Flying Dutchmen with the runaway  scratch winner being a B14. Division Two was a fleet of Lasers and a lone Spiral sailed by my weekend host Lachlan Brown. Division Three were the VXOnes competing for their NSW State Titles.  There was some great racing, one heat had 5 boats in about 20 seconds elapsed finishing time. Winner was Rob Douglass, who was a little more consistent in the end. Division Four was a fleet of mixed trailerables, including Spyder22, Haines Trailer Tamp tri, Windrush 600 and a couple of RL24s. Overall it was a Elliott 5.9 on scratch. Division Five were the larger multihulls, NACRA, Viper, Mosquito and Hobie16s. Division Six was a fleet of Hobie 14s and a couple of Maricat 14s.

Division One away

With a pretty standard seabreeze on Saturday of 5-8 knots and a Sou-Easter of 8-10knots on Sunday, the clear skies made it an enjoyable weekend out on the water. The mix of windward leg lengths and triangles kept our start team on their toes trying to keep up, but pretty much all the  competitors finished in about 20-25minutes.

Division Six away

The volunteers, the start team, the mark laying teams and the unsung ashore all contributed to  an excellent weekend. Whilst numbers may have been down a little this year,  I certainly hope that everyone will keep this event on their calendar.

Heading home

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2021, that’s about it

December 6, 2021 Leave a comment

DeckHardware are sponsoring the Flying Eleven States and Nationals with the assistance of Allen Brothers and LIROS Ropes.  Last weekend (20/21 November) was held at Vaucluse Amateur 12″ Sailing Club.   While the 16′ Skiffs were up at Belmont for their states Mel went up to see how things were going, whilst I put the DeckHardware RIB in the water to go across the harbour. It’s the best part of an hours drive around, however in the RIB it was less than half that. Many of the Middle Harbour and Manly competitors were also towed across.  The result was quite a queue and raft up on the wharf.

And there’s more at the back of this pontoon

Weather wise, Saturday was pretty miserable for Summer with light drizzle and a  reasonable South Easter, good for the sailors, not so much the many spectators. Numbers were slightly down, partially due to the inclement weather and being the first regatta of their season, many of the new crews to the class decided against sailing.

Some of the Flying Eleven fleet

As always it was pretty good racing and a delight to watch some of the top crews efforts and boat handling.

That’s 4th and 5th about to round the top mark in the distance.

This weekend was another round of the 16’s this time out on The Sound. Mel and Locky went out Saturday and then I replaced Locky as the boat driver Sunday. Mel took some great photos that have been posted on the DeckHardware Facebook page. The conditions however were no different to the week before. Surely we’ll get a Summers Nor Easter soon., we haven’t had one yet.

Competition is tight in the 16′ skiff fleet, there’s three Olympic Gold medals and numerous National and World titles on this one boat.
Nathan Wilmot on the helm, Malcolm Page on the bow and hidden in this photo.

It was interesting tactics by the leaders on Sunday. In the East South Easterly.  The start was Washaway Beach (near Grotto Point Lighthouse)  I was surprised they didn’t start at the boat end and tack on to port to take advantage of the outgoing Middle Harbour tide before it hit the main bulk tide leaving the harbour.  Instead the top runners started down on the pin , holding on Starboard to Quarantine Head and  then one tack to the top mark across the tide. Those who went right or up the middle lost out, it appeared to be a speed race with no tacks. It worked however and next time there’s the same conditions, I’ll have to study a little more.  As they say , you learn something new each day out on the water.

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Harwood weekend

November 19, 2021 Leave a comment

Last weekend I took my first ‘little’ drive for quite some time, a lazy 7hrs up the Pacific Highway to Harwood. It was time again for the annual Bridge to Breakers Regatta at the Big River Sailing Club on the Clarence.

It has been quite some time since I’d been north and it was finally nice to see the completion of the dual road system that they’ve been working on for way too long.  Some might find it a little boring but with cruise control and several podcasts to listen to, the drive  up went relatively easy however the return trip was typical Sunday return with traffic bumper to bumper from before the Gosford turnoff.  What should have been a 30 minute trip turned out to be three times that.  Frustrating, but that’s life especially as now everyone can hit the road.

Leaving DeckHardware a early on Friday afternoon, I got into the club camping ground at 2130 and had the pleasant surprise to be offered a beer by Steve and Marita , friends who stayed up  for the welcome.

Barton Marine Banner at Big River Sailing Club

This year one of our new manufacturers Barton Marine also supported the event by offering goodies for prizes.

Whilst I wasn’t there to sail, instead to support the sailors, the conditions on Saturday meant that around half the fleet didn’t sail. A blustery westerly gusting 25-30knots made it difficult for many, I don’t  think that any who sailed went without a capsize. Everyone ashore however were amazed at the skills of some especially the two of the leading Heron sailors who showed that yes a Heron can plane.  It’s quite a long course on Saturday heading downriver to Yamba with a long beat and hard reach back. For many it was around 2.5hrs on the water, hard work.

A good roll up of Herons

Sundays planned two short course races were greeted by far less breeze, in some places none at all for those who didn’t sail the day before and those who’s boat remained in one piece from the day before. 

Unfortunately there were many who packed up and went home Saturday afternoon missing out on the wonderful Saturday evening spread that the locals put on. For me it’s my annual Sticky  Date pudding fix.

I left for the drive home once everyone hit the water on Sunday, but as I’ve mentioned everyone else heading to Sydney had the same idea. I’m sure that the Barton goodies were well received, I know that the Commodore when I presented the bag was very thankful for their support.

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Time for an update

November 19, 2021 Leave a comment

It’s been sometime since I’ve been on the road and been to a regatta. The last one for season 20/21 was at Batemans Bay back in April and following that one, interstate and intrastate travelling and Sailing along with most other sports was put to one side.

Western end of the rigging/camping area at BRSC

Looking east @BRSC

I’ve often spoken about the enjoyment of going to country regattas, like Batemans Bay, Jindabyne, Wallagoot Lake and Lake Keepit. Each event is unique in its own way with the variety of classes competing. This coming weekend, I’ll be taking the DeckHardware van north to the Big River Sailing Club at Harwood north of Grafton. It’s been a few years since I’ve been and I’m looking forward again to the country clubs hospitality. Barton Marine UK,a new supplier of boating products to DeckHardware have also come on board in providing some of their Easy Splice and Baby Splice kits as prizes.  I’m sure that these will be well received by the winners.

One of the larger and more comfortable competitors

Sportsboats

Whilst I won’t be actively involved on the water, it’s a chance to show the range of products that DeckHardware now can provide.  Since I was there last, we have added Antal and Barton to our range and they have added a variety of products that we often get asked for. With divisions covering almost every sailing craft from small dinghies like Herons, Sabres, Impulses and Lasers, to a wide mix of multihulls from Hobie and NACRA and A Class foilers and non-foilers to a mix of trailerables and smaller yachts, there’s a division for everyone.

Early mornings are like this at Big River Sailing Club
Some of the smaller competitors

This year the Bridge to Breakers Regatta as it’s known is capped at 70 entries due to C19 restrictions still in effect. Unfortunately those from Southern Queensland are not able to travel interstate and will miss this years event. The onshore hospitality of the locals is added to by everyone camping onsite, even some of the locals on Saturday night following the huge spread they put on.  For those who have not been before, put this event in your calendar for 2022,  there’s plenty of room for tents, campers, caravans and rigging. The Clarence River is plenty wide and long enough to cater for all .

Even the locals come out for a look.

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A new boat, regattas and more

November 21, 2019 Leave a comment

A new boat, regattas and more

So the 19/20 Summer season started off for me officiating with a Farr40 regatta, since then we’ve had another. I’ve always enjoyed officiating for the Farr40s, they have a group of enthusiastic owners who enjoy their sailing, added to this they are very social as well and their dock parties at MHYC after days sailing reflect this. Their association secretary, Jen Hughes rounds them all up and tries to keep them all sorted both on and off the water taking photos and arranging the pizzas and beers.

Farr40s offshore

Off the beaches of Freshwater and Curl Curl, wind and flat water

My next weekend on the water was down at Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. Something a little different this time but I had done a few years back, running the ACT Dinghy Championships with some 70 boats across 8 divisions. A mix of Sharpies, Flying Fifteens, Lasers, Sabres with a few solo entries like an Impulse and RS100. Terry Peak ably looked after the Sailability and Optimists on another section of the lake.

Sailing in Canberra

Weather was like this for the two days whilst on the water.

The Wind Gods looked after us and we are able to get in two days of racing on a trapezoid course in 10-15knots of westerly with the odd bullet coming through causing a capsize or three [dozen]. I was assisted by the Canberra start team and one even called me the ‘wind whisperer’ as he hadn’t had such an easy regatta wind wise on the lake before. The wind came in on both days just prior to heading out and cut off not long after the last finisher. We had minimal delays and everyone knows that on LBG it’s not uncommon to have boats working and running on the same leg of the course, the joys of inland waterways.

A the end of the day

It was like this on both days once racing had finished.

In amongst all of this, there’s a new boat in the family. For sometime Melissa has thought about having a RIB enabling her to go to various clubs and regattas to take some photos and support DeckHardware ambassadors. We started looking at second hand 5m and ended up with a brand new 6.5m RIB with all the extras required. I’ll also be able to use it at the various country regattas I attend. In order to tow it around, it’s necessitated two new vehicles, a van for me and a larger car for towing. This has been paid for out of Robyn’s inheritance and the sale of her family home.

On the RIB, on the harbour

I can’t remember a time going under the bridge by powerboat, I’ve always sailed.

Last weekend, I spent some time in the new RIB watching the 16’er States up the harbour, something a little different. They had a great NorEaster for two races on Saturday and a Southerly came through for the single race on Sunday. Good racing for the 40 odd boats in an otherwise very crowded area, although after a leg or so most were spread out, especially with a few capsizes.

Rounding Cockatoo Island

Hazards of racing on the upper harbour, the race 3, 1st mark  leader TED cutting it fine. Eventual winner with Orange spinnaker, IMEI.

16's sailing up the harbour

Some of the 16s fleet on Sunday

Having not had a trailerable boat since the early 80s when Mel was a baby, it’s all about getting in the queue at the ramp both in and out. I’m getting better at organising at home first so it’s not mucking about wasting time prior to launching. The facilities are far better now with floating pontoons to tie up to once launched and whilst the car and trailer are parked. So far so good, the electric winch works a treat too, no winding!

 

Mel’s gone to METS in Amsterdam this week to meet up with many of our suppliers. Around this time of year they release new products and catalogues and it’s the opportunity to meet in person with the people at the other end of an email or phone line. It’s a busy week for her with scheduled meetings over the three days of the show. I know that when I’ve been, almost the best part is the sleep on the plane home!

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Been a while but.. [part two]

September 27, 2019 Leave a comment

Shortly after returning from driving down south, I was in the air for a couple of days in Perth.  I’d planned on just three rather full days seeing as many DeckHardware customers as I could. I started off heading down to Australind and Bunbury a couple of hours drive south of Perth and then working my way back to where I was staying in Fremantle. It was a busy day driving several hundred kilometers, having arrived the previous night, but it was good to see some of the customers there and to show some of the new product range.

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Fremantle Bridges over the Swan River at night

 

That evening however changed everything. I’d gone to bed early to catch up on some sleep to be awoken by a call from the Fremantle Police. A couple of local youths had gone on a rampage in the area and I was one of the victims. They’d smashed the passenger window of the hire car and stolen my little red lunchbox containing my business cards. These were found in the backpack of one of the youth cornered by the dog squad. Evidence! Unfortunately, I had to wait till lunchtime for the Forensic fellow to do his job, then it was in to Perth CBD to swap over for another vehicle. So I lost a full day’s work.

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Broken side mirror and window

 

Friday in Western Australia was pretty full on and naturally I didn’t get to see as many as I normally would have. Saturday morning however, I was given the opportunity to go out on the Fremantle Sailing Club start boat for the first Offshore race start of the season. As a National race officer, it’s always good to see how others do it, you always pick up on something. Yes I did pick up a treat and those who report in to my start team this season may have a little surprise. The conditions however were not to anyone’s liking with barely a ripple on the water at start time. It did slowly build and the leaders were able to be finished before sunset. I had one more stop before heading to the airport mid afternoon and returning home for a day on the water Sunday. Thanks must go again go to Paul and Sarah for providing the home to come back to each evening, they’ve been wonderful hosts over the years.

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Freo pin boat heading out with the start boat

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Slow start, some of the boats ahead started 15 minutes earlier!

Normally I get the bus in to Mascot, however this time I’d driven in due to the late evening arrival. Downer number 2 for the trip – a flat battery and a wait for the NRMA who unfortunately for me had a busy evening.

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Farr40 offshore start Sunday

 

So after a few hours sleep it was back to Middle Harbour Yacht Club and a day of racing with the Farr40s. They’d raced with the offshore boats the day before and the schedule was for a few races inshore on Sunday. Unfortunately the lack of breeze followed me from the day before. Hanging around the heads looking for something, we noticed some wind offshore, so a course was set. Again the conditions were not to our liking and the first race was abandoned. Moving back inshore looking for something we were able to run a couple of quick races to round out their weekend. Perhaps, we should have stayed inshore, but at least we gave it a go.

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Back in the harbour with wind on Sunday

 

 

So that’s now the start of the summer of sailing 2019/2020.

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Keepit at Copeton

June 13, 2019 Leave a comment

There’s two essential things that make for a good regatta, they are water and wind.  There is a distinct lack of water in inland Australia and the 51st Keepit Kool Regatta at Lake Keepit was a victim. I’ve been there when there’s been over 70% and as little as 9 or 10%, however this year its empty or as close as 1% can be.  Certainly not enough to go sailing with anything but a remote controlled yacht.  As a result the Keepit locals decided that to sail they had to take their boats elsewhere and in this case it was to Copeton Dam several hours away. Copeton when full certainly covers a huge area, however with 9.3% there’s just enough to go sailing. Several of us there for the first time are waiting for it to be near full to go back and have a look. There’s a huge amount of space and those not staying in the powered section of the park, preferring to be off the grid, had plenty of room to themselves. The only issue was a lack of phone reception in the area which created the usual technological issues of today’s world. There were those of course who loved not being distracted by emails, text messages and phone calls.

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A few of the Copeton locals in the early morning. That’s the water down there!

Thirty hardy crews arrived for the weekends racing, some from Keepit surrounds, others travelling from Newcastle and Sydney. Understandably the numbers were halved, with a combination of factors. The second element in sailing is the wind and apart from one brief instance whilst the briefing was being held, the flags drooped all weekend, struggling at best to get to 5knots.

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Gust of the weekend, I had to take a photo whilst the briefing was being held.

As is the norm for country events, there’s a mixture of boats, from sportsboats and smaller trailerable yachts, a range of multihulls and the usual fleet of Lasers and mixed monohulls. A rather intrepid young fellow even tried his sailboard, unfortunately having to paddle or get assisted back to shore in the glassouts mid race. Only one race was completed on Saturday, with three on Sunday and a ‘passage’ race on Monday morning. The on water race management team did their best given the conditions.

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Pretty much the weekends conditions.

Keepit is known for it’s evening social life with organised ‘home cooked’ dinners on Saturday and Sunday. The yabby races and the trivia followed. As runners up in the trivia, our table thought we did pretty well, maybe next year we can go one better. Hopefully inland Australia will receive some much needed rain and we can return to Keepit for the 52nd Keepit Kool.

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Mondays passage race. You can see by the opposite side, just how much the water level is down. Where I’m standing would be under water when full.

 

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Wallagoot Lake 2019

March 14, 2019 Leave a comment

Last weekend saw my now annual trip south to Wallagoot Lake for their annual regatta. This was my 4th time they’ve asked me to be the Race Officer and this year saw the NSW Sabre class include this event as their State Titles for the second time. The class have indeed made the decision to make this event at Wallagoot a fixture on their calendar. This year also saw an influx of Sabre sailors from Victoria for the first time and the locals are hoping that some of their knowledge will be passed on after the first six placings were held by those who came north.

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Sunset view from the clubhouse of a lone pelican

It’s normally a six hour drive south, however as is the norm these days there’s always someone to stuff the road system getting out of Sydney and it took me nearly ninety minutes longer due to an incident in one of the tunnels heading down the Hume Highway. This backed everything up to the harbour tunnel making it a crawl, something I’d hate to do on a daily basis. Instead I took the coast road and it made the trip just that bit easier once past Botany Bay. I came home via the inland and had a good run especially up Brown Mountain, part of the Great Dividing Range.

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Sabre fleet working to windward

Saturday morning was more of the same that I’ve experienced before at Wallagoot, the land breeze fades out, giving in to the seabreeze, this time with a bit of south in it. We got in the first race an hour late, then a break for lunch and at 1500 got in two more races in a nice 5-8knot seabreeze. A good day on the water for all.

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Saturday afternoon

Sunday morning saw more of the same with a dying land breeze and the seabreeze struggling to come in and even though we only had two races to run, the seabreeze only allowed one for the rest of the divisions.  We just got in the fifth race for the Sabres shortening them after the first triangle.

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Hurry up and wait, we had a bit of this. The Pacific Ocean is just over the hill and you can hear the surf at night.

In checking the weather up and down the coast, it was interesting to note that the Farr40s on Sydney Harbour were also postponed due to lack of wind over the weekend.

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With over fifty entries this was the largest fleet at Wallagoot for quite some time and those coming for the first time all expressed that they’ll be back. With the candlelight dinner on Saturday evening and live music from a local NS14 sailor, why wouldn’t you put this on your calendar.

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Jindabyne moved

December 14, 2018 Leave a comment

In previous years the annual Snowy Mountains Regatta was held in late February, however Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club had several clashes at that time of year, so a move was on. Bringing it forward to pre-Christmas was the go, I was able to fit it in then too.  Returning again for another stint as the regatta race officer is always a joy, I thoroughly enjoy the country hospitality too.

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Coming ashore Friday evening

 

Again as in previous years, I’ve left Sydney around lunchtime and headed south, although this time I had a quick stop at Woolwich Dock to drop off some PROtect Tape for the 100’er Infotrack. Luckily once out of the horror metropolitan city traffic it was a good run and whilst I missed the start of the Friday evening race, I was there in time for the team to come and pick me up off the beach for the finish. They had a great evening sail with just enough to make it pleasant. The club locals then put on the usual great spread for dinner, finishing with a couple of rather large pavlovas!

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Whilst we programmed for 4 divisions, Multi’s, trailerable, dinghies and Lasers, we only had the one competitive trailer yacht, an Elliot7 who we put in with the mixed dinghies. I’d been talking about this regatta to a couple of close friends, James and Marita who talked a couple of their friends Steve and Paul in to coming to Jindabyne. I know it’s a long haul from Sydney but it’s a great country regatta and hopefully we can attract more again next year. We’ve had all sort of mixed trailerables from VX1’s to Flying Fifteens in the past.

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Good fleet of Multihulls

 

 

Saturday dawned with a typical local glassout but the forecast looked good and it was, for one race. Again it was good to have boat driver and Sabre sailor Ross and the Lake Jindabyne Sailing Club RO John with me on the start boat, the three of us have done this for a few years now. We shortened up the Multihulls so we could get another race away, however with only Brett White’s 20′ carbon flyer remotely looking like finishing it was time to abandon and go ashore. Hurry up and wait was the order of the day and in the end it was ‘beeroclock’. Given that the temperature was in the 30’s, everyone was quite happy on that call. One thing about sailing in Jindabyne, the water is fresh and drinkable.

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Laser start

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Saturday afternoon glassout

 

Sunday started as a followup to the day before until the breeze arrived out of the east. It was fantastic to get two good races in, around 10-15 knots of wind. Plenty of laughter as the tail finished the second race screaming downhill in a huge squirt. The 14 strong fleet of Lasers especially made it hard work for Ross and John to keep up with the pencilling, luckily I had my tape running and John was able to work off that, forward – rewind – forward – rewind..

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Sundays breeze 

 

 

And then as they say, it all happened. A large nasty black cloud appeared and then dumped some heavy rain on us, the breeze rotated right 90degrees and upped the ante to over 20knots. Many sailors sheltered in a little cove on the side of the lake, smart, better than sailing around. In the end I decided that it was AP over A, too hard for some of the younger sailors to stay upright and the older ones too enjoyed a little relief. Typically as Ross pointed out, the front went through and the wind died completely resulting in us becoming a towboat, towing competitors home.

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The breeze however stayed calm as the Sun came out, so at least it was nice for the regatta presentations. One of the lighter comments that afternoon was from MG/NS14 sailor Tony Hastings from Wallagoot Lake, I asked him why he was taking so long to unrig preferring a beer instead. His reply? “Hey, the boat’s got a good wash, waiting for it to dry!’ Thoughts of a saltwater sailing in fresh, brilliant. Another competitor hadn’t sailed there for a few decades, he said he’d be back next year not leaving it too long. I hopefully will be back too, unlike some dams like Keepit there’s plenty of fresh water for sailing.

And this appeared on the club notice board, courtesy of John Byrne. I’m yet to work out what I have.

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Just a quick trip south

October 23, 2018 Leave a comment

Last week I spent a few days south. First up on Saturday morning, was a quick stop in Canberra then across to the coast where I stopped by Wallagoot Lake Boat Club. They were just finishing their days racing and a few of them were pleasantly surprised to see me. One thought I was an apparition! It was good to see them again as many have become good friends in my time officiating their annual regatta. They were quite pleased to show me their new start/rescue/mark laying boat, a new alloy runabout with more room in the bow for buoys. They were yet to set it up fully and were keen on my input. I’ll be back again for their annual regatta later in the season which again incorporates the NSW State Sabre titles.

Wallagoot Lake

Heading further south down the coast, the next stop was Paynesville, where again I surprised a few at the club by turning up. It was the first race of the season for them and I enjoyed wandering around chatting with those who remembered my DeckHardware product talk last season. After a couple of hours break, it was back on the road and heading to Port Phillip Bay.

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I spent the next couple of days driving anti-clockwise around Port Phillip, starting at Sorrento and finishing off at Geelong and Queenscliff before heading home. It’s always good to catch up and have dinner with friends and in this case it was Marty and Sue Sly, legends for their boatwork in Melbourne. It’s nice to catch up on all the gossip around the traps after hours when you have a bit more time on your hands. Whilst I didn’t have the time to see every one this time around, hopefully I’ll make it up on the next trip.

Again it was nice to see Vicroads updating the rest areas and the facilities on the Hume, however like NSW Roads and Maritime, there’s a great expanse of new tar and concrete but no shelter from the Sun or rain. Like the Pacific Highway in northern NSW, all the trees that provided some sort of relief in the past have been removed. I guess those that those who design these rest areas don’t use them.

Clear start

This weekend past, I spent another couple of days officiating the local Farr40 fleet for their monthly regatta, only six boats this time but again the racing was close. Tom Quick’s Outlaw was the eventual winner with tactician David Chapman bringing his father Richard and uncle Bob Wilmot out of hiding to assist. It’s always enjoyable working with the Farr40s, they are a great bunch of very keen and experienced sailors and those who volunteer to assist me on the start boat always go away having learnt something.  We had a great day offshore on Saturday with a 10-12knot NorEaster and a reasonably flat sea and on Sunday in the harbour despite the forecasts, we had another great 12-14knots from the South East. Sunday was the shiftiest breeze inshore I’ve seen for a while, there was no pattern to it, but the shifts were all over the place from 150* to 200*, those that worked them made the most. Very testing.

 

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