It doesn't matter where you put the seam -- when you project a curved surface onto a flat plane from any angle, the edges will always be compressed - and this is what causes texture smearing. Before I got the Pro version, I unwrapped my templates by hand, so I know it can be done. Just use the zoom tool to get very close-up on the outer edges of the mesh, and pull the vertices (2 or 3 deep) outward until the polygons look about the same size as the ones closer to the middle of the mesh. Good Luck