Norman Blanchard spent his entire life building boats, and racing and cruising in them; he was active in the Seattle Yacht Club starting in 1928. He began working for his father, N.J. Blanchard, in 1931, becoming president of the Blanchard Boat Company in 1954. Following his retirement, he joined the board of the Princess Louisa International Society and, for most of the 1980s, served as the society's president. In 1970 he was appointed to the National Boating Safety Council, and that same year was president of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society. Norman passed away in 2009 at the age of 98.