TIWAL CUP 2017

What a day! 53 sailboats, 85 sailors for the 4th TIWAL Cup in the Gulf of Morbihan, held in Brittany, France. TIWAL welcomed TIWAL Captains from the USA, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malta, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and from all over France, to share the fun of sailing.
The programme for the day included a race to assemble the boats, racing around various islands, a BBQ lunch on Arz Island, the TIWAL Kids Cup, a downwind race, and a race back to Port.
After a quiet morning with almost no wind, the wind then picked up and held at 20 knots on the sail back to Arradon. The downwind race sorted the fleet out pretty quickly with most  having at least one capsize.  Only about 30 boats finished the designated course around the islands.  There were plenty of stories to be told at the local restaurant where we finally rested our bodies and met new TIWAL’ers who ranged from boating professionals to Parisians on holiday. 
So now a new world record is in place for assembling a TIWAL…  Gilles Bajolet.. in 10 minutes and 41secs!!  The duo of Mélanie VIAL and Gregory PRELAT finished in just 6 mins and 28 secs! 

The following day (Sunday) we launched from a different spot further up the coast of Brittany, Carnac.  This area is known as the 'heart of sailing' in France (I have never seen so many Catamarans) and we saw some impressive new boats in the marinas.  This was a relaxed cruise around the gulf before we we landed for lunch at a beach then had an informal race back to Carnac.