I’m curious as to what booties everyone prefers for prone surfing in the Winter. My Rip Curl booties that I’ve had forever are pretty sticky to the board and I find it challenging to move my front foot around if my placement isn’t ideal from my pop-up. I know Patagonia makes those booties without the sole on the bottom. Of course, the sticky booties may just help me dial in my foot placement once and for all!
Merry Christmas folks🤙
These are the only ones I have ever used, but I love them.
Xcel Infiniti are unreal. They are ridiculously comfy and super warm.
I like the idea of the Solite boots but they just didn’t fit my feet very well when I tried them on in the shop. The Vans surf boots look interesting as well.
I like the Solite. Heat mold them to your feet at home. I also have a $20 pair of Neil Pride that work fine. Not overly sticky is good.
Solite. I use my 7mil with the insert (from surfing) and my friends think I’m crazy for it. I know it’s thick, but they are hard around the outside and I’ve never rolled my toe in them. Never had a problem readjusting stance with them either. I know I could go thinner but no problem whatsoever. Located in NJ
funny you mention that…I just got some new excel infiniti 7mm boots, so warm and the grip is like velcro compared to my slippery old booties. But the grip caused my foot to catch on popup…and being inflexible mid-50s, it tweaked my knee. So now I am using front foot old lame 3mm’s, and the nice new 7mm back.
Solite are great, but I went with the advice to buy on the small side, and the super tight fit with internal big toe divider caused toe nail to get black. But also found they react with some deck pads to be super slippery.
My best buy lately was Decathlon 3mm … surprisingly good quality for $30ish. However, mostly out of stock since covid.
Dude! Sounds rough. I’d like to avoid that.
+1 for Solite 3mm. I really like them with the socks included, typically it’s 5mm boots here but with socks seem to let you get away with the thinner boots. (don’t forget to stretch them out with boiling water @juandesooka ?), way prefer them to Excel, they have retained their shape and I like them because they aren’t insanely grippy like most boots. I have pretty slick grip that I scuff up with a blade to get it just right…
Only issue is they aren’t as durable or require a bit more care, but I got a warranty and gave the original to a buddy and likes them too.
Didn’t get on with vans at all, the rubber went funky after not using them through a summer and turned into slippery ice skates. Terrible. And they stank and were crazy expensive.
Random idea from the interview with Zane, he said how much worse foiling is with boots compared to surfing.
They discussed trying wax instead of deck grip. Seems unlikely, but at this stage facing boots again, anything seems worth a try
Wild. I love booties, I feel like they give me better grip and control than I get without and I always prefer wearing them over bare feet. I suppose it’s just what you are used to. In my case, Xcel drylock forever.
Weird. I hate them, literally feels like you go back a few months each time I have to start wearing them. Gonna try wax this winter and report back!
I can’t say whether it’s deck shape, the pads (vertical lines or grids) or what, but some boards I immediately take the front pad off and wax to allow my front foot to squish around for the sweet spot, and other boards are fine with pads on. And some pads need wax… I know I hate pads with centerline humps!
3mm bootie of choice is Matuse Tabi.
5mm Xcel split toe.