From the Classic Boat Community: Stories and Photos of Honorary Commodores

Honorary Commodores Norman Blanchard (1987) and Scott Rohrer (2005)

We are grateful to Steve Wilen for sharing memories and photos of Norman & Mary Blanchard and Scott Rohrer. Norm was Honorary Commodore of the Classic Boat Festival in 1987, and Scott in 2005.

A friend of both Norm and Scott, Steve was a co-author with Norm of Knee-Deep In Shavings (1999), published by Horsdal & Schubart on Saltspring Island. The wonderful photo of Norm and Scott together was taken on the 1929 R-class sloop Pirate on Lake Union prior to her restoration.

From the Festival programmes in our archives:

Norman Blanchard
Norman Blanchard started working in the family business in 1929, beginning his formal apprenticeship in 1931. As a young man, he was the draftsman for the Blanchard Knockabout series. Based on the Olympic Star Boats, the 26 foot Knockabouts were aimed at the low-cost cruiser marker in the depression years of the ‘Thirties, and featured round bilge and cabin. Altogether, 97 were built. Norman was well known to Festival participants. He acted as one of our judges in the early ‘80s.

Scott Rohrer
Scott Rohrer’s early sailing was out of Leschi Moorages on Lake Washington at a time when there were no fiberglass boats. His first boatbuilding job was as part-time helper position in William Buchan’s facility at the foot of Madison Street. As a racing skipper, he competed at the highest levels of the sport, in both regattas and long-distance events. He served in the after-guard of Roy E. Disney’s 70’ Pyewacket when she set the mono hull record for the Swiftsure Classic in 1996. Scott served boaters as a marine insurance agent and broker in Seattle area. Since 1999 most of his free time was spent on the restoration of the 1929 R-class sloop Pirate and his 1950 18’ Lyman Island, Picnic.

Norman passed away at the age of 98 in 2009. Scott passed away in 2023.

Norm Blanchard. Photo courtesy of Steve Wilen.

Norm Blanchard and Scott Rohrer aboard Pirate. Photo courtesy of Steve Wilen.

Norman’s comment during his time as a Festival Judge, “You can’t win a prize by throwing dollar bills at a boat,” summarizes the spirit of the festival, where tender loving care and time lavished are equally important as money in the restoration and maintenance of the classic craft.

Photo courtesy of Clementien Wolferstan.

Honorary Commodore Bill Wolferstan (2006)

We are grateful to Clementien Wolferstan for sharing this great photo of her husband Bill.

From the Festival programmes in our archives:

Bill Wolferstan was born in Vancouver and he and his wife Clementien sailed the British Columbia coast for almost fifty years (Bill, since childhood, and Clementien since she met Bill in 1974). Their love for the BC coast led them to write a series of Cruising Guides. Bill was director of SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society) from 1983, and skipped the Dutch sailing barge Linquenda in Europe since 1996. Bill sailed on the maiden voyages of the Spirit of Chemainus 1986 (Victoria – Port Hardy) and Pacific Swift 1988 (Victoria – Hawaii, Brisbane-Sydney, Australia).

Bill passed away in 2015.

Honorary Commodores David Rahn (2014) and Robert D’Arcy (2013)

We are grateful to Hessel Oerlemans, longtime Classic Boat Festival Committee member and former Festival Chair, for sharing these great photos of David Rahn and Robert D’Arcy.

Having a shot of an Honorary Commodore at the Festival is always extra fun to see!

From the Festival programmes in our archives:

David Rahn
Growing up in Ontario, David spent summers playing on hand-me-down skiffs and now-classic Peterborough runabouts and Chestnut cedar & canvas canoes, later graduating to home-built hydroplanes and water ski boats, and the occasional Century or Chris-Craft. The wooden boat hook was early and deep. A long career in commercial marine publishing has helped preserve and strengthen links to classic BC working vessels, and afforded some time for leisure on the water.

Robert D’Arcy
Robert D’Arcy grew up sailing in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. A 4^th generation shipwright, his Scottish cum New England forefathers instilled in him a passion and competence in boatbuilding and restoration that is world-class. When the 1907 schooner Martha was donated to the Northwest Schooner Foundation in 1995, Robert couldn’t say no to what he knew would involve her complete restoration. His study of Martha’s history and her sleek, seaworthy beauty inspired Robert in 1997 to start his own non-profit Schooner Martha Foundation.

Honorary Commodore David Rahn at the 2014 Classic Boat Festival. Photo courtesy of Hessel Oerlemans.

Robert D’Arcy. Photo courtesy of Hessel Oerlemans.

David Rahn. Photo courtesy of Hessel Oerlemans.

John West aboard Argonaut II. Photo from the Maritime Museum of BC Collection.

Honorary Commodore Ned Ashe and Judge Frank Fredette in 1979 (Frank would be Honorary Commodore in 1982). Photo from the Maritime Museum of BC Collection.

Honorary Commodores John West (2007), Ned Ashe (1979), and Frank Fredette (1982)

This project did not start with the social media appeal or our new website. For years, photos from the Maritime Museum of BC and Classic Boat Festival archives have been posted on social media, with so many illuminating responses and identifications coming in.

Staff are so grateful to hear from family and friends of figures who are so important to the Festival; we continue it into the future because of their foundational work and ideas.

An unidentified archival photo from 1979–the first Festival!– was identified on the Victoria Classic Boat Festival Facebook page by Frank Fredette’s granddaughter Lisa. Everyone ever involved in the Festival immediately recognized founding member of the Victoria Classic Boat Festival Committee and long-serving Committee member John West aboard Argonaut II in a collection of unidentified photo scans.

We’ll post some of our favourite archival photos over this winter to see what information we can gather about them!