François Vivier designed the 14’6” Ilur for daysailing and camp cruising. He drew the boat originally with a lug rig, and added the mizzen seen here on WAXWING for owner-builder John Hartmann.
WAXWING, John Hartmann’s newly launched Ilur design from the drawing board of Fran-çois Vivier, caught my attention in Maine last summer when I spotted her at anchor off a Muscongus Bay island one August evening. We were both camp-cruising, on our way to the Small Reach Regatta, and the next day found us happily sailing in company as we headed to the Audubon Camp at Hog Island. As is often the case with great boats on a gorgeous day, we took the long way every chance we got. Upon arrival at the camp, I quickly found my way to the float and introduced myself to John and his wife, Gabrielle. An invitation to go for a sail in WAXWING ensued, and the wonders of a really fine design were revealed.Ilur is one of Vivier’s most successful sail-and-oar designs (see WB No. 212). She is a small boat, just 14' 6", but will fool even experienced builders into thinking she is much larger. Perhaps channeling Arthur Ran-some, Vivier drew her beamy, full-bodied, and deep, with a nearly plumb stem, a flat, near-vertical transom, high freeboard, and a flattish sheer. These traits are typically a recipe for a dumpy, inelegant tub, so the fact that Vivier has blended them in a lovely combination is a triumph of his mantra that a sailing boat must be a coherent whole. This was one of his first designs for amateur builders, and she was originally designed for strip construction—the then-current technology. The present day ubiquity of quality plywood and epoxy con-struction techniques have allowed her to be redesigned for glued lapstrake construction. That’s how WAXWING was built.
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Christophe Matson
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