The debut of the TIWAL in New Zealand and Australia

by Melinda Henshaw on 2 Nov 2016 Melinda Henshaw, Olympic sailing representative in the 200 Olympics explains the TIWAL, an inflatable sailing boat that packs down into a couple of bags for ease of transport.

She writes:

I was holidaying recently in France with my parents and while we were out swimming a TIWAL sailed past.

We ended up borrowing a boat for a couple of days to try it out. It turned out to be one of the most fun, stable, comfortable boats I have sailed. I took my mother out in the TIWAL who is normally a hesitant sailor and she enjoyed it. A good friend also commented ‘I can see why you like this sport, Melinda' while taking the tiller for the first time.

The TIWAL is designed for safety. It has a wide V-shaped underbody that provides more stability than a traditional rigid dinghy. Its saber-shaped daggerboard offers the same upwind sailing ability as a traditional dinghy and it's boomless sail makes tacking safe and easy. The boat is easily righted when capsized by standing on the racks.

The TIWAL has two sails, a 7.5 sq metre and a 5.2 sq metre and can reach planing speeds of up to 12 knots. Due to the robust hull the TIWAL can provide some serious fun for the more adventurous sailor.

The TIWAL can take an adult and two children or two adults.

How the inflatable fits together:

The TIWAL is 10.5 feet long, weighs 50kgs and comes in two bags - one for the hull and one for the structure and the sail. The Tiwal can be supplied with a launching trolley and a cover for outside storage.

The dinghy, which won Sailing World magazine’s Best Innovation award in 2014, is guaranteed for one year against manufacturing defects. The hull, which is made from the same PVC material used in traditional semi-rigid motorboats has the same maintenance requirements. The manufacturers recommend you (and a friend) carry it in and out of the water, thus avoiding dragging it over the sand or rocks.

About the designer:

The TIWAL was designed by Marion Excoffon, a French designer, who used to sail with her family on their 30 foot sailboat when she was a kid. When she turned 20, she asked her father whether she could take it by herself. He refused, and she defiantly told him that she would make her own boat. A few years later she showed him the first prototype of the TIWAL.

Later she tried to sell this concept to the big guys in the marine industry. They all turned down the project so she decided to manufacture the boat by herself. As of today, more than 500 TIWALs are sailing around the world, in more than 40 countries.