at their lower ends to the sea floor therefore if table 28 were rigidly fixed in its position above spar hull top surface 30 without any means for relative rotation therebetween a tilt of spar hull 12 from its normally vertical position would induce large compressive loads in the risers 16 on the side of spar hull 12 tilted down this large compressive load would overstress and eventually buckle these risers similarly the risers 16 on the opposite side of spar hull 12 would experience large tensile loads the large variations in axial tension and compression in risers 16 would result in unacceptable fatigue damage to risers 16 over the lifetime of the installation the relative rotation between table 28 and spar hull 12 permitted by elastomeric load pads 58 and 60 allows the upper ends of risers 16 to u201c float u201d with respect to upper surface 30 of spar hull 12 and thus prevents large axial tension and compression fluctuations in risers 16 resulting from environmentally induced pitching of spar hull 12 as seen most clearly in fig2 large capacity elastomeric load pads 58 are located near the center of table 28 for supporting a large portion of the riser tension smaller capacity elastomeric load pads 60 are located near the perimeter of.