Some even say that I might have improved the shape of her stern.

I do not know about that.

The water leaves her run sharp after bearing her to the last inch, and no suction is formed by undue cutaway.
Smooth-water sailors say, "Where is her overhang ?" They never crossed the Gulf Stream in a nor'easter, and they do not know what is best in all weathers.

For your life, build no fantail overhang on a craft going offshore.

As a sailor judges his prospective ship by a "blow of the eye" when he takes interest enough to look her over at all, so I judged the _Spray_, and I was not deceived.
In a sloop-rig the _Spray_ made that part of her voyage reaching from Boston through the Strait of Magellan, during which she experienced the greatest variety of weather conditions.