Foiling with shoes

[wavy navy]

Just curious: Anyone tried foiling strapless with shoes? What's the pros and cons? Which shoes? Seems to be convenient at wintertime...

[SENDIT!]

I think that I remember jumptheshark saying that he does...maybe?

[jumptheshark]

I've been in these all season. we had our "100 year flood" again this spring and our launches are sketch at best so Im in shoes. I have a flat, hard, tractioned pocket board. No pad. Really like riding in them. Had only about 10 sessions barefoot this summer. At the beach or easy dock, barefoot is great, but its no bummer to pop a kite up somewhere and scramble over a rocky shoreline to get a great session in these. I'm more used to riding with than without.

Comfy, like having a foot pad wherever you wanna stand. drain immediately through holes in the sole, holding up well and great over neo socks when it gets colder. I like them a lot better than neo booties. I do find they suck to actually swim in.

Takes a bit to get used to. Barefoot you can do subtle stance adjustments by kind of inch worming your foot around. It's different in shoes, but you adapt.

I'm not sure I would like them as much on a deck pad. I put a tail pad on with some bright colour just for the sake of visibility and it had a bit of an arch bar..... liked it barefoot, but hated it in shoes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/adidas-outdoor ... 2388835269

[wavy navy]

Nice. I will try it.

[OzBungy]

I foil with booties for most of the year. One issue is standing in a shore break. If I stand flat footed on the bottom, sand and shell grit splashes up and fills the boots. There is nothing more painful than getting a sharp shell fragment wedged between your toes.

I would think that shoes would be very exposed to sand and shells getting in. Is that reasonable?

The solution is to get your feet off the bottom when a wave crashes. Simply jumping off the bottom when the wave crashes is enough. It's less of a problem in deeper water.

[jakemoore]

Keens if I think I will have to exit in an unfortunate place. I should wear them all the time but prefer the feeling of bare feet.

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[nixmatters]

due to an injury I had to wear shoes with a bit harder sole for a while. Tried my Helly Hensen watershoes that have quite a thick insole and a rounded sole similar to above KEEN and I found them very unsuited for strapless foiling. Then I tried my skate shoes and the difference was huge (better)!
I feel the Neilpryde HC hiking boots might be quite OK, but couldn't find my size. They've got flat soles with no rounded edges and should be warm enough for cold water too. Gill have similar 'hiking' sailing boots, but don't look as good to me.

[Tomlutz]

Just curious: Anyone tried foiling strapless with shoes? What's the pros and cons? Which shoes? Seems to be convenient at wintertime...

Since I had serious cuts on my feets when I was learning to foil, I now always wear all kinds of shoes, mostly shoes for swimming or now, as winter is approaching, neopren shoes.

[Herman]

Merrell do a trainer called the waterpro maipo. They have a vibram sole so not as much feel as a neoprene bootie but they are pretty light and do not take on much water. Best trainer I have found for wet board sports. Mine have lasted years but have only been lightly used.

I usually wear them with neoprene socks.

[elguapo]

i wear a pair of simple when i wear i wear a drysuit...

100% practical reason.. the places where i need a drysuit are mixed mud/rock bottoms and i prefer minimizing the chance of me tearing a sock on drysuit.
neither my normal split toe neoprene or vibram water shoes fit comfortably.. so i use the cheapo slips