I keep two pairs of hightop Chucks on hand; a pair that fits for the
summertime (I wear them over a pair of back-packers' polypro-like
sock-liners) and an outsized pair for wintertime (I wear these over
sock-liners, wool socks, the latex footies attached to my drysuit, and
Goretex bootliners which are sold to keep hikers' feet dry but which I
use to protect the delicate latex footies in my expensive drysuit from
pebbles, the grommets in the Chucks, etc.).

The value of Chucks is that they have good (but not great) traction on
wet and dry rocks, they lash firmly around my ankle so my feet dangle
from the ankle rather than rest on my toes, and the sole is firm enough
to transfer the weight of my foot from the ankle to the deck, bypassing
my toes.

Downside is that they are canvas and wet canvas rots, so, when I was in
100-day per year boating mode I needed a new pair in each size, each
year.

With this footgear I've never had to mess around with ankle blocks,
something I've been hearing about for years but was never able to set
up to my satisfaction, and have rarely (if ever) seen on other
whitewater paddlers' boats. Besides, other people occasionally want to
try out my boat at a lunch stop or for a mile or so of the river, and
they usually need to adjust the outfitting, so I don't want it to get
too personalized.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
.. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
.. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

Colo paddler wrote:
I'm new to OC-1 and was wondering what footwear folks have found that
work well. The booties I normally wear for kayaking don't have stiff
soles, so they don't give me much support when in the kneeling-feet
against footbraces OC-1 style position. What do you wear on your feet
when paddling your OC-1?