“There is a thin line between love and hate.”
-SIMONE ELKELES
I wear booties every winter. It’s been quite some time too, at least 10 years, which means I’ve gone through my fair share of booties. Taking a quick poll of my small surfing circle, it’s pretty divided. You either love them or hate them, there’s no real in between.
I can remember the exact day of deciding that I would become a bootie wearer. For surf class at my highschool, we were generally instructed to be on the beach before the sun was up. I got into a solid routine of doing the drive down to the beach in my wetsuit. It was too cold in the mornings, I never wanted to change down there at the beach. One of these pre-sunrise surfs, I had to get out of the water a bit earlier than usual. Running back to the car after the surf, the sand felt like it was blistering my feet. My brain thought I was running over broken glass. At the time, it may have been one of the coldest experiences of my life. The cold hurt, it brought actual pain. Booties have been a part of my surfing life since then.
I’ve just recently learned that I prefer split toe booties rather than round toes. I used to do the round because I didn’t like the feeling of something between my toes – the very reason I hardly wear flip flops. Only upon age and maturity have I realized the split toe bootie does wonders in keeping the flooding to a minimum. The round toe is a harbor for drowning your feet.
Booties definitely take a while to get used to. I can completely understand the vast majority of surfers that try out a pair for one session, have that surf utterly ruined, and then never going back to test them again. Stepping all over the rubber that is folding underneath your toes. Not feeling the exact zone your foot has landed on the deck of your board. Dragging the bootie all over the board and getting your pop up ruined. The list of reasons why people don’t like to surf in booties is extensive.
As is the list of arguments for why surfers love shredding in booties. The warmth is obvious and instrumental. The grip is better than barefoot to wax (subjective). You can also traverse reef and rock breaks much easier. Pros and cons.
Which brings me to today’s topic: my new needessentials 4mm boots. As I said, I’ve been through a lot of pairs of booties. This is the first time I have had booties that did not have a strap up above my ankle, near the top of the cuff. This strap is presumably to help keep water out. Even without this strap though, these boots have done a fantastic job. About 6 or 7 sessions in, and I’ve yet to have the full on puddle at the bottom of the booties.
The first thing I noticed about this pair straight out of the packaging was how soft the neoprene is. The rubber feels super smooth and slick; a beautiful, welcoming sensation for your feet. The second thing that jumped out to me was that I may have ordered a size too small. The US site for needessentials doesn’t offer half sizes. Since I typically wear a 10.5 shoe, I figured I would go with a size 10 boot to err on the side of caution and hope for less flooding. While this has worked in my favor, my toes do feel a little cramped. It is much better than having too much room, however. This latter option only accounts for major water fill, as well as stepping on the extra rubber that gets folded up under your toes. Two very deterring factors.
My personal favorite feature of any pair of booties is the extra grip provided, and I’ve experienced nothing less than expected with this set. My foot feels like it’s correctly, firmly placed, and I can lean hard into any direction I so choose. Digging into the batter’s box.
These booties are also perfect for today’s surfer, style wise. There is 1 company making booties that look like shoes. If you’re not wearing those, your booties look the same as every other company, spare the branding. These, in contrast, are all black, with no labeling whatsoever. That is needessentials MO – no branding, essentials that work, only what you need.
This is the thickest pair of booties I’ve owned. I typically just get the standard thin, 3mm boots. Needessentials offers a 6mm thermal boot, these 4mm’s, and a liquid sealed 2mm. I was thinking about the idea of thicker boots and how it shouldn’t be a huge factor in the feel department. Some people say they can really feel the thickness in the bottom of their foot if they go up in mm’s. I have not had this issue yet.
One thing I will say about boots in general, is that they wear down at a pretty rapid rate. Or maybe I just run mine into the ground faster than others, both literally and figuratively. I will wear booties everyday if necessary. Slipping on wet booties is nowhere near the terror that is an entire wet wetsuit. I am yet to see how long these will last me, but the varying degrees of bootie wear and tear are not limited to: rips, torn seams, the ever common ripped loop pull, all the same stuff you see with wetsuits basically. The bottom footing of this specific pair feels really solid. That’s probably due to the 4mil. Since they are a tight fit though, I’ve been slipping them on rather gently. As with any neoprene, the older, more used and stretched out it gets, the more prone it becomes to damage. I’m assuming this pair will be good for at least the remainder of this year. It’s almost time to put them away already. There’s a chance they are broken out again around Turkey Time, but that is never a guarantee. I will have to check back on the longevity. Up to this point, there have been no disappointments.
I’ve really enjoyed these so far. From the comfort, to the look and of course the warmth, these needessentials booties have hit every mark, all on a friendly budget. Have a look at their store, and grab a pair of these while you’re at it. They are near half the price of every other comparable bootie on the market, and they won’t do you wrong.
Cheers to all of my bootie brothers out there.
-hwilsin