Neil Rabinowitz
Brothers John and Rob (at the helm) Wilkinson grew up sailing a Blanchard Senior knockabout in the mid-1950s. Now in their mid-70s, they recently acquired a derelict Senior, thoroughly restored it, and named it ILLUSION.
Classic boats do not necessarily spring from auspicious beginnings. As the boatbuilder Norman C. Blanchard of Seattle stated in his memoir, Knee-Deep in Shavings, one day in 1933 a group of Sunday strollers stopped into his Lake Union boatworks to ponder the 23′ Star-class sailboats the shop had been building. Nice little boats, the browsers sniffed, but for that lofty price—$750—they would expect a cabin. This was in the doldrums of the Great Depression, and for comparison, a new Ford V8 coupe could be bought for as little $500. The strollers drifted off. Blanchard’s father and business partner, Norman J. Blanchard, thought for a few moments and said, “Dammit, let’s build a cheap sailboat with a cabin on it.”