The Hudson River is rough on gear. One item that gets a lot of wear are windsurf booties. Most launch sites are rocky, and the rocks aren't smooth river stones. It's as if each rock believes in the New York tradition of carrying a knife, and it's usually pointed right at a windsurfer's soles and ankles. (I'm from Brooklyn; I can make that crass generalization. It's not really true, but I can still say that.)
Two years ago I bought a pair of “O'Neill 5 mm Heat Round Toe” booties. I had problems with them almost immediately. My dainty, little feet are a size 8 1/2. Since these booties only come in full sizes I ordered a 9. Should be fine, right? Wrong. The seams split the first time I pulled them on.
To Big Wind's credit, they sent me a new pair. Still, for $54.95, I expected better quality gear.
I wore the new pair for two seasons. The worked fine, mostly. The sole was thick, but not thick enough for the rally sharp rocks, which I'd usually step on while I had a sail or board on m head. They wouldn't pierce the sole, but they would bruise. This summer I noticed the holes. The neoprene in front of the ankle was coming apart. Tiny cuts I'd made in the neoprene with my fingernails were getting larger, and water was leaking in.
Brian Johnson, one of the Hudson River Rats, clued me into a water gear company called NRS, which makes gear for kayakers. I'd actually bought a wetsuit jacket from them a month before to compliment my farmer john wetsuit. It's a nice 2 mm jacket, and I couldn't find anything like it in the windsurfing world. It's snug, comfy and has a lot of mobility. Plus, I wore it for Halloween over my Captain Kirk shirt, 'cause it looks kinda Star Treky.
Photo from www.nrsweb.com.
NRS has some very nice booties, some with thick soles for over-land kayak portages. I got a pair of their Cross-4 Wetshoes for just shy of forty bucks.
This bootie has some seriously thick soles, thicker than any windsurfing bootie I've seen. I know there will be concerns about loss of feeling of the board, and I'll have to adjust the size of my footstraps, but that's less important than being safe from bruises and water chestnut puncture wounds.
The NRS booties slide on well, unlike the O'Neills, which I have to wrestle on (without tearing the seams again). The foot strap was thicker and seemed anchored onto the bootie quiet well. There is also an internal liner to the zipper.
The liner is very obvious when seen from above.
Brian feels like you can get kayaking gear at a better price point and better quality than windsurfing gear. I suspect he's right. There are just so many more kayakers out there than windsurfers that the equipment makers can afford to sell their gear at lower prices.
2 comments:
Yeah, sometimes it is worth looking at "other" sportswear options to find what is suitable. I was horse-riding in the cold rain in the highlands of Scotland in my US Army extreme cold weather gear which I was disappointed to find still managed to let the rain in. The ride leader, a Scot, advised us that the best clothing that worked for the conditions was the gear that they wear in the extreme maxi yachting races in the Atlantic. Which is probably right, because the famous Australian stockman's Drizabone was designed by a Scot based on Scottish sailors oilskin coats. If works, go for it!
Hi, my name Rizky, I am from Indonesia, I am interested in diving clothes because I like to swim, if you ever been to Indonesia?
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