Tiwal 3 review: Mark from Wilmette, IL

My name is Mark and I live in Wilmette just outside of Chicago.

Which Tiwal model do you have?

I’ve got a Tiwal 3 sailboat and I’ve had it for a full season, so I got it early in the summer last year in 2021.

Where do you sail?

I’m on the Great Lakes here in the US, so I generally put it in the water at my local beach, not actually Wilmette but in Evanston, which is only about five miles from where I live. And then I sail up and down the coast in the Great Lakes. So depending on the conditions, I might go for a half day sail or I’ve dragged it out for almost a full day as well, but mostly within sight of the shore, but yeah fresh water, Great Lakes and then, on a nice afternoon looking at the Chicago skyline from the water is quite rewarding.

Single-handed or double-handed?

Both actually, I enjoy using it myself. It’s very easy to set up and control, and in the right sort of conditions, it’s you know, it’s as docile as anything that you might wish to sail on. With the children, in particular. I generally take one child at a time and of course the good thing is that they can be in complete control at that point and I’m just there monitoring in case things get a little hairy or all they get to the edge of their expertise it’s actually because it’s inflatable as well it’s really comfortable for the children I find that their endurance on the wild’s been a lot greater than it has been on other types of boats as well.

How is it going so far?

My only disappointment is that, I’ve been able to use it more frequently actually it gets a little bit too cold too quickly, but a bit too extreme, for uh winter sailing so, I haven’t had any complaints at all it’s still the role that I had for it very very well. I haven’t just because of 2021 and 2022 so far, I’ve not been out to take it further afield, which is one of my aspirations. I thoroughly enjoyed it so far, it’s definitely enabled my sailing over the previous kinds of sailing that I was doing.

Which characteristics did surprise you?

Well, I have to say its ability to point. I was expecting to be a little bit compromised, just because, it is light and frankly I was expecting it to be a little bit more flexible than it actually is. So I was pleasantly surprised with his ability to point. I’ll confess I haven’t been in conditions that have been too demanding, but in light heirs, this had a lot more range than I thought it would do in terms of sailing close close hold. So that I found was surprising.

What is your best memmory with your Tiwal?

It’s actually probably the least challenging sailing but the most pleasant conditions I found myself reasonably calm with my thirteen-year-old daughter. Just a little bit away from where we put in the the boat, but finding myself being pretty much the only vessel on the Great Lakes, with a bright blue sky and the Chicago City Skyline. So not too far away and then, the tranquility of that.

Which characteristics did surprise you?

I found that, actually probably the most noteworthy from the last season clearly everybody else knew that it was getting a bit calm, and I didn’t thought, but it was a very pleasant experience regardless.

Where would you dream to sail with your Tiwal?

There are a lot of lakes in North America, where I’d like to head for, so I think probably one of the things I aspire to is to take it somewhere properly remote, and be the only boat out on, you know, a flow edge, or a freshwater lake somewhere in a little bit further North, very close to the Canadian border in Wisconsin, somewhere like that. Where yeah you properly gain access with turning up in your car, the boat in the trunk. I think that’s probably what I look forward to.