Tiwal 2 review: Tracy, from Honolulu – HI

My name is Tracy. I’m from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Which Tiwal model do you have?

I’ve only had it… it’s been a few months and I have the Tiwal 2 sailing dinghy.

Where do you sail?

In Hawaii, there are so many places you can sail and there’s a lot of wind here because we’re in the tradewinds. In the summer, I took it up to the North Shore of O’ahu where I surf. In the winter where there’d be 20-foot waves, in the summer it’s like a lake. I took it out to Waimea Bay during the summer when it was flat and I’ve recently been sailing off of Waikiki. Usually there are tradewinds. I sailed this past Sunday literally like 25 knots, maybe in some 39 gusts with the reefed sail and it worked good. It’s really cool to be off of Waikiki sailing around all these big sailboats that are anchored or sailing and they’re just looking at like “what in the hell is that?”

Single-handed or double-handed?

Yeah, I’ve used it solo. The first time I used it I had some friends to help me put it together. The first time is always the hardest so it took a lot longer than it should have. Now I can do it for myself in a third of the time but I had my friends there so we did two adults on it which is… it actually could handle it as long as you knew when to switch and keep the boat balanced.

How do you transport your Tiwal?

I have a van and that’s really one of the main reasons why I bought it because I don’t have a boat slip, there’s not a lot of harbors, there are harbors but not a lot so I just want to be able to launch it from the beach.

How is it going so far?

Oh it’s going great! I’m getting into it now, I got my little wind vane I got to put soul shells on the sail and when I sailed this past Sunday in like you know consistent 15 to 20 knots, I was fine.

Which characteristics did surprise you?

The sensitivity and the reaction time, it’s instantaneous. I’ve never sailed dinghies before so for me it was a new experience but I just love it.

What is your best memory with your Tiwal?

I would say last Sunday when I went sailing off of Waikiki. In that picture about a mile out I was sailing towards Diamond Head which is in that picture and all the big Yachts were out and Sunday they anchor out you know half a mile to a mile out and I was sailing up to the 60-foot yacht and sailboats and stuff and I’m sailing around. They were just looking at me. In Hawaii we have what we call the Shaka which is this: it’s like you know “thumbs up”. They were doing this to me because I’m the only one in Honolulu so they’ve never seen it before. Everybody asks, all the tourists ask me : “Oh, I have seen that online before and yeah I was thinking about getting one” and so I’ve been meeting, it’s a conversation piece on the beach at Waikiki.

Where would you dream to sail your Tiwal?

I want to sail it all over O’ahu but I also kind of want to get to one of the neighbor Islands. This summer I went to Kauai. We were at Hanalei Bay and went down the Na Pali Coast. That was beautiful on a Zodiac but Hanalei Bay would be perfect for sailing because it’s a big Bay, in the summer it’s very calm.

Will you come to the Tiwal Cup?

I’ll ask my fiancee! No matter where I go or travel, since I lived in Hawaii, I always want to see the ocean, be near the ocean. That’s an idea, yeah, compete for Hawaii.

Thank you Tracy!