Boat profile: RoG 15 Bluto (William Pieters)

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William Pieters entered his RoG 15 'Bluto' for the 2020 Raid Extreme but had to cancel due to Corona restrictions. Hopefully this year will be better.
Bluto attracted quite some attention and was named 'Transportable de l'Annee' by the French Voile Magazine.

What triggered you to build your boat?
I was looking for a  fast raid sailing dinghy; safe and fun to sail with my 5 year-old daughter and of course very trailerable.

Which existing designs inspired or influenced you?
None zero nada. Emmanuel (Arwen Marine) told me about the JF Bedard's RoG 15 design. I had a look at it and went for it because there was nothing out there that even came close to the spec.

How did the design evolve?
It evolved from day one! As we thought a few elements were not necessary I simplified a lot of stuff.
To compensate for these simplifications I increased the sail plan and added a big gennaker.

How did your boat meet your expectations?
It outperformed my expectations in many ways! The most surprising is the stability of the Rog (even when night sailing with 6 guys on board after a boozy evening).
The capacity of the Rog to sail with the turbo on just blew my mind.
The comfort on board is really surprising (I'm 193cm and 'in shape'). Two adults can really sleep on board with lots of space under the cockpit, a kitchen and a basic wc!

Where will you sail or are you sailing?
I was planning to sail at a lot events this year but three have already been canceled (English raid, Semaine du Golfe, la Route du Sable). And due to severe health problems in my family I'm not sure I am able to travel this summer.

What is your favourite picture of building or sailing your boat?
Here is a saling picture. There are many photos of the build at Emmanuel Conrath's yard.

How did the boat get its name?
The last years I always said that the new boat would be for my daughter Alizée (reference to the trade winds). So I asked Alizée to choose the name of the boat. Her first idea was 'Frozen' after the Disney movie .. not really my cup of tea!
We went further with the Disney idea. Popeye was on the list, but too politically correct.
Then I remenbered the archrival of Popeye. Brutus, first name: BLUTO.
And since he was a pirate sailing with black sails and trying to steal Olive he sounded like much more fun.
And so we stuck with Bluto.

Do you know of other RoG 15’s that are currently being built?
It seems that 17 plans of the Rog were sold. Bluto is the second boat to be built. The first RoG 15 was built by the designer).
One should be building in California, and possibly another in Switzerland and one in Australia.
As I found out it is still a lot of work so I am interested to see how it goes.

Any new developments?
I am trying some new ideas. Even more turbo, maybe semi-foiling!