Fishing:
Getting Started in BTBFF - Part IV: What to Wear
On Your Feet
Leaving Your Mark...
Or not! Most running shoes and workboots leave ugly black skidmarks on white nonskid boat decks. These take a fair amount of elbow grease to remove, so do the boat owner a favor, and use shoes with non-marking soles.
How do you know if they have non-marking soles? If your shoes are designed for indoor court use, like basketball, volleyball, squash or aerobics, they're probably OK. Ones to avoid are black-soled running shoes or work boots.
Of course, you can also use traditional boat shoes like the classic Sperry Topsiders (too yuppy for many), and there are a number of boat shoes modeled along the lines of running shoes. Both types of shoes offer non-skid, non-marking soles, toe protection, arch support, and heel padding for a comfortable day on the water. The athletic-shoe models are usually constructed of quick-drying synthetics, and several have anti-microbial footbeds to cut down on odors.
Another option are rubber deck boots, the same as those used on party boats. These have the advantage of offering a little more protection to the ankle or calf area, and are totally waterproof. But in our mind, they are a little heavy for private boat use, and tend to get clammy in warm weather.
Windsurfers and Personal Watercraft (PWC) riders often use slip-on mocassin-style water shoes. We like these a lot from a comfort perspective, but they typically do not have a lot of arch support or heel padding. This is a disadvantage for fishermen, who tend to stand around a lot.
And of course...there are Crocs, or the Croc-lookalikes. Every Crocs owner we have talked to likes them because they are comfortable, dry quickly, and have a good nonslip sole. But some people don't feel comfortable with their styling...
The last option are boating versions of the performance sandal (as popularized by Teva), or the standard flip-flop (thong) sandals. Sandals have no toe protection, and the flip-flop versions have minimal arch support, but they dry quickly, offer non-slip, non-marking traction, and are very comfortable in warm weather.
What do we use? The majority of time we wear a boating version of the standard flip-flop (thong) sandals. The versions we've been wearing are the Scott Hawaii Kamuela 2. They have a non-marking, non-slip sole, some arch support, and are extremely durable. The rest of the time, we wear the Sperry Mako, a traditional boating shoe. If we know it's going to be extremely cold or raining, we wear regular deck boots.
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