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?

Perhaps it is not the footware that you should be focusing on, but
outfitting YOUR boat to fit YOU. You may want to try fabricating some foam
ankle/shin supports. This will take the pressure off your toes by supporting
your lower legs. Outfitting any whitewater boat is a very personal thing. As
always it is safety first, but the more you wear the boat the more you can
control it. Next comes comfort. You might not get it just right on the 1st.
(or 2nd. etc) try, but you may find your current botties may work fine. On
the other hand I used to get a black and blue stripes on the bottom of my
feet if I did practice rolls in bare feet. So some sturdier boots may be
appropriate too. Keep tinkering with it until your satisified. You will know
when you get it right.


"Colo paddler" wrote in message
ups.com...
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?

On 26 Jun 2005 23:57:44 -0700, "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?

I also find the typical neoprene booties too flimsy, and also the
soles too slippery. My solution was to buy the felt soles that are
sold for the bottom of the waders that fishermen wear. Presumably the
felt is much less slippery on slimy, wet rocks. These felt soles get
applied to the booties with contact adhesive. This solves two
problems at once, at least for me. Tom McCloud

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
--
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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?