Tiwal 3 review: Mitchell, from Orlando – FL

My name is Mitchell and I live in Orlando, Florida.

Which TIWAL model do you have?

I have a Tiwal 3 small sailboat and I’ve had it for a year and a month now.

Where do you sail?

All over, I sail in the Gulf of Mexico. My favorite places are Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay on the west coast of Florida, and then on the east coast of Florida.

I love going down to Melbourne or Cape Canaveral near where we launch our rockets from and even Miami or West Palm Beach are my favorite.

I travel for work so I keep my Tiwal on the back of my truck.

I have it with me wherever I go.

What was your experience before Tiwal?

I grew up sailing with my dad and I’ve never really had a larger boat. So this was my first experience actually, sailing by myself and owning my own vessel, so it’s really great.

It’s a great experience and it’s a great training tool too, because I always have friends asking to come out with me and come sail, so I get to teach and educate other people on sailing, and know the sustainability that comes with sailing so.

Single-handed or double-handed?

So double-handed, just normally it’s either with myself or with a friend of mine and we just do it for leisure activities, there’s not many Tiwal owners down here so… But it does generate a lot of interest. I have a lot of people coming up to me on the beach asking me what I’m doing, what I’m sailing, how I’m able to fit it in my car. Because that’s just one of those things the slip costs are so expensive down here in Florida and having to have a trailer and parking at different launches, it’s really easy having it in the back of my truck.

How is it going so far?

I love it yeah, it’s very enjoyable.

It’s just, it’s a good time. I was a combat veteran in Afghanistan so being on my Tiwal, just allows me to have some time to relax you know.

Get my bearings straight, kind of just unwind, get back to nature.

I’ve a 12-year-old that I’ve taught how to sail so he knows how to sail pretty good then I have an 8-year-old, a 5-year-old, and they all enjoy coming with me.

What characteristics surprised you?

I’d say just the being able to sail up to a beach, having the daggerboard easily coming up, as well as the rudder. So it’s very easy to basically go on any type of beach to park, I think that’s really nice and just having one sail, it’s really nice.

What is your best memory with your Tiwal?

I’d say in Sarasota Bay. I was pulling up to the side, just getting ready, not really drop anchor but pull up to the side of the beach. And I look down out of the side of the boat and it looked like crystal blue clear water. It looked like it was about 2 or 3ft deep, so I jumped off my Tiwal hoping to push it to shore and no, it wasn’t 3ft deep,it was about 12 to 14ft deep!

I went off the side of it and I grabbed the bars on the side and had to pull myself back up and I was like, oh man this is, this is not as shallow as I thought!

The enjoyment I have with my friends and family, I think is the other, it’s the biggest part of it.

My kids absolutely love it, because it’s not just like any other type of inflatable you have. You have a means and method to get around using the wind.