Tiwal 3 review – Constance’s from Seattle, WA

My first name is Constance and I’m from Seattle Washington.

Which Tiwal model do you have?

I have a Tiwal 3 small sailboat and this will be the third season. I bought it two years ago.

What was your experience before Tiwal?

I started in probably my late 40s, just took lessons on bigger boats 25 foot Catalinas, 22 foot Capris. My experience learning was to handle and learn the basics on a bigger boat but what I wanted personally when I stepped forward to buy one, was something that I could easily get. I didn’t need to keep it in a marina, I didn’t need to keep it on a buoy, it could be very easily launched, personally by myself. My philosophy has always been: if it’s easy to get to it, if it’s easy to get in the water, you’ll use it all the time. Whereas if you have to drive somewhere or trailer the boat you don’t use it as much, so this was the answer for me.

Where do you sail?

I sail in basically what’s called Puget Sound, which is salt water. It’s surrounding the Seattle area. We have water that has come in from the Pacific Ocean and is basically a whole series of bays and inlets. It’s open water but it’s not ocean sailing.

Single handed or double handed?

It’s usually myself. I do have friends that like to come along, but I find the boat is really fun to sail alone, so… and that’s really why I bought it, it was to have something that I could easily handle and I live right on the beach so it stays basically on our bulkhead so I can put it in the water in two minutes and be off.

How was the first handling with your Tiwal?

You know initially, when I first got the boxes and took it apart and laid it out, it was a little, I won’t say it was intimidating but it was it was like “okay how does this go together?” But after one time through, the thing is simple to take down and put back together again, so you know, I don’t have any speed records for it but to be able to do that and basically by yourself and be completely self-contained and go out pretty much in any environment is an awful lot of fun!

How is it going so far?

It’s great, it’s great that boat is so much fun! It builds confidence because it is a stable feeling when you’re on it, but it still gives you a really fun sensation of sailing which is what I was looking for. You know, the bigger boats you basically sometimes just feel like you’re sitting there, but this one you feel like you’re part of the boat and you feel like you’re part of the water because you’re right on it, so it’s pretty much exactly what I was hoping to find.

Which characteristics did surprise you?

I think what really surprised me was how, despite its material and how it’s designed, how well it sails compared to a hard shell 12-foot dinghy that was built for basically speed and racing. My expectation coming to this was that you know maybe it would be not quite as sensational but oh it is a blast and I’ve dumped it a couple times but for the most part I’ll go out in water that probably I wouldn’t have gone out in, in the other boat, so works great.

What is your best memory with your Tiwal?

Getting it to the point where I got to sit up on the rail, that was wind that came up pretty suddenly when I was out there, and was like Okay here we go! and that sensation was a blast.

Where would you dream to sail with your Tiwal?

Well, the other reason I bought the boat was because it’s so easily transportable and we do a lot of trailer camping in the summer, so it comes with us basically almost every time we go where there’s accessible water so I think that really the dream is more just keep sailing it as much as possible, rather than a particular location. It’s one of those feelings that I think I can do for a long time and I’m not a young person. I think the dream is just stay on it, keep going!