Fred checked in with Tern on February 25. She is moored in the Pocasset River, Barlow's Boatyard, at the north end of Buzzards Bay.

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Fred has tracked down some previous owner info and he forwarded the following information. He bought Tern from Peter and Lisa DeRoetth in 2005 who had her moored at Vineyard Haven out on Martha's Vineyard. Other previous owners are Simeon Hyde and Albert Schaal. Webmaster Note: On July 4th your Webmaster spoke with Simeon Hyde, Jr. who now lives in Portland, Oregon. Simeon had Tern in the 1980's and promises to get back in touch with us after he has had a chance to look at the website. Simeon advised the names of 2 other former owners of Tern - a man named Doucette and a Howard (Hart) Eddy. - and also the name of another Dolphin owner he knew, a Mr Caulkins. Stay tuned for more on this part of Tern's life from Simeon.

Fred reports the DeRoetths kept Tern in tip top condition and he has had only normal varnish work to keep her up, plus a new furling jib and dodger. The main hatch wood bonnet above looks like a non standard extra (Webmaster note: Simeon also promises more info about this), and probably doubled the standard Yankee varnish budget - worth it. She has a 1 cyl Yanmar diesel installed in 1994 - more about this project coming. If you looked carefully at the photo to the left you will note a raised rub rail, a first such feature seen on a Dolphin by your webmaster.

Of course, your webmaster had to point out to Fred that the raised rub rail resulted in the loss of the two dots after the Dolphin - to find out more about these two dots click here (at the end)

Tern originally was powered by an outboard in the transom well, and in 1994 was repowered with a Yanmar single cylinder diesel. Repowering from an outboard to an inboard has come up several times before and this is an opportunity, with Fred's help, to look at this in depth. Below is a picture of Tern's interior looking aft with the the inboard hiding in its expected location. We have a link to the website's Technical Section where most of this repowering subject will be developed, and where you get to see what's behind the panel below. Click here to go to it.

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On June 21, 2008 Marionette stopped in Pocasset at the top of Buzzards Bay on her trip to Maine, and naturally, to visit with Tern. Fred was hard at work sanding that main hatch.

We got a chance to tour around the small but interesting Barlow Boatyard where they still build wood boats and launch and retreive boats on a marine railway. You can just see that railway at the lower left of the above picture

This schooner barge occupied a prime location.

In the morning after an excellent 'shore' dinner that had the benefit of Fred's local knowledge, his land transportation, and his arranging for a very secure overnight tie up at Barlow's, we motored the 1/2 mile or so down the river and entered the 7 mile long Cape Cod Canal - with its imposing RR bridge, thankfully in the up position. The current here can run 4+ knots and steming it while waiting for the bridge is not for Dolphins powered by 4 hp outboards...

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Simeon Hyde responded to the above with the following email - edited by your webmaster

                                                                                                   July 4, 2008

I have just taken a first look at the website and I am trying to pin down the period of my ownership.  I find I bought her in the fall of 1984, through a broker, from a Mr.Doucette, who was buying a Tartan 27. I had her trucked from Great Bay(?) New Hampshire, to her new home port at Martha's Vineyard. We cruised Downeast in '85, wintered her over, and brought her back to the Vineyard the following summer.  I then got rid of the clumsy ratlines, straightened up the raked mast, restoring her closer to true Dolphinhood.  I did not remove the sea hood, which still exists, nor did I varnish it. (I left all the teak the natural gray, as was common in those days.)  I do not remember the rub rail, which might have been consistent with the other modifications and suppose it to be a later addition.

After summers of cruising south of the Cape,  I sold her to a friend, Howard Eddy, who had substantial refitting done at M.V,. Shipyard.  Your 1994 dating of the Diesel installation is somewhat puzzling, as I had thought the refit was done soon after the sale. Howard may have sailed her as he found her for longer than I realized.  I saw her once, looking beautiful, after he told me he had sold her to a young couple.

I do remember my dismay when Howard told me he had sold Tern because he had found her too tender.  He was an old salt whose youthful experience included sailing before the mast on one of the "P" ships in the last grain race to and from Australia, but his wife was not comfortable on "tippy" boats.  His disappointment may have been brought about by my having replaced the rusted iron center board with an insufficiently weighted one of structural fiberglass.  I had had little opportunity to test.  (I do remember, on the sea trial with Howard, deciding to ease her with a reef as we beat up Vineyard Haven in a typical Vineyard Sound sou'wester.

Simeon Hyde

Webmaster Note: On a follow up email Simeon mentioned his experience with headsails on Tern which is appended here "...I disposed of the old style wire luff furling jib (Schaefer ?), which I could not carry upwind successfully and was miserable when partially furled. I got satisfying performance with a lapper, non-lapping working jib, an storm handerchief, used only once with a double reefed main. Lying to in a storm works well with a Dolphin"

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