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The Tiwal 3 – A Sailboat in a Box Review by Steve Morrell
Well...it doesn’t really come in a box (it sounds good, though). But it is a similar idea; this boat can be packed into two bags weighing about 62 pounds each (124pound boat, air molecule weight not included) and is delivered to your doorstep by FedEx (probably in a box or two). Although the Tiwal—built in France—has been around for several years (Sailing World gave it the Boat of the Year Best Innovation Award in 2014), it’s not widely known in the U.S. But in France—and in Europe in general— small boat sailing is more popular and the Tiwal has many fans. In June at the 2017 Tiwal Cup in France, 53 boats and 85 sailors (the boat can be sailed by one or two) came to France from as far away as Hong Kong and New Zealand to sail. The boat is 10 feet 6 inches, can be sailed by one or two, has two sail sizes and has an inflatable hull (no surprise there). You can watch many YouTube videos (search for “Tiwal”) on the boat sailing and see that it sails well. Reviews give it high ratings and loads-of-fun comments. And how long does it take to put this boat together? At the Tiwal Cup, the first thing that everyone does before the first race is compete in who can put it together the fastest. The single person won with 10 minutes, 4 seconds. The two-person competition was won in six minutes, 28 seconds. Not bad, since just about every small sailboat that doesn’t come in a kit (and that’s a limited field) takes at least that long (of course, everyone moves faster when competing—and the Tiwal website advertises it takes 20 minutes).
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February 2018
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