LETTER OF THE MONTH
Tern III buoyancy
o Jack Gifford: thank you for your commentary on Claude Worth’s (Classic Design, March issue). Great to see this lovely, historic vessel highlighted. I am interested in your description of her counter stern: “Long enough to pick up additional waterline length when heeled, without being so long she’d get ‘pooped’ by following, the author Douglas Phillips-Birt notes favourably the behaviour at sea of some quite long-ended vessels, while suggesting that an excess of reserve buoyancy aft is bad, while higher reserve buoyancy forward is generally good. What would we think, that wave action aft lifts the stern, depressing the bow, and that a bow without sufficient reserve buoyancy digs in and buries, checking forward progress allowing green water to break over the stern? How have these considerations been addressed in modern and classic design? Thanks for an informative and entertaining read, with hopes that the editor will grant you much more space in future!
