Tiwal 2L review: Josh from Albany – NY

My name is Josh and I live in Albany in New York.

Which Tiwal model do you have?

So I have the family sailing dinghy Tiwal 2L and I believe I bought it in June of this year, so it’s been about six months.

Where do you sail?

So far, it has only been inland lakes but eventually, I would love to be able to take it out on the ocean. Coastline, obviously not deep ocean.

Single-handed or double-handed?

So far, It’s just been my wife and I. Part of the reason that we actually bought the 2L model in particular, was because we wanted to be able to take our friend’s kids or my nephews. So just having that flexibility option: so far just her and I, but in the future we’d like to keep the flexible options open.

How is it going so far?

Absolutely love it!

The first time we took it out it was, it was beyond a blast; so much fun! Just the fact that we were so close to the water. And it handled much more responsive than I was expecting it to be given its size, so just incredibly fun absolutely love it.

What characteristics surprised you?

So the responsiveness for sure, but then actually the comfort. I wasn’t sure how it was really going to feel like when I was sitting on it – because I had never heard f an inflatable boat before – So I had no idea really what to even expect in terms of like it’s weight, so how heavy it was to move around, how comfortable it was to actually sit on… But everything just was a breeze to set up and transport. It was very comfortable to sit on, and even lay down on at one point. And when my wife she took the helm, and I just laid down and was enjoying it. So surprisingness was responsiveness and also comfort.

What is your best memory with your Tiwal?

This might be showing our beginner level here. I had taken it out on the lake, because we were so excited, and we didn’t look at the forecast of the wind all that much. And so we ended up out in the middle of the lake and the wind just completely cut out. So we were stranded. And thankfully we had purchased an oar along with the Tiwal itself, so we were able to very slowly row our way back to the shoreline. But it was just so funny, because we were not expecting to have to use the oar the very first time we took it out. So that was definitely the funniest memory.

Where would you dream to sail with your Tiwal?

Couple things… I’d love to be able to take it out on the coastline, whether that’s in the Caribbean or out the Atlantic coast. I don’t care, I just want to take it somewhere on the ocean.

But then I’ve also seen videos of the Tiwal races over in Europe where everyone just kind of gets out and it’s doing their race and I’d love to be able to participate in that sometime in the future. I don’t know when but maybe one day.