Re: [Paddlewise] Footwear & Elan ??'s

Merlin,

What sort of colder weather and water?  You noted that you tested the kayak 
in Seattle and a previous post sounded like you did a course with the Kayak 
Academy here (Strawberry Is).  Will you be paddling here in Puget Sound, 
50ish deg, northern freshwater 30 to 40ish or winter conditions in the Gulf 
of Mexico.  Cold is relative and it's funny to see friends from Florida try 
to swim in the ocean here even during mid-summer...

I wear size 11's to fit over my drysuit and when I paddle my Sirius, I'm 
able to wear Chota's River Runner which is like a normal boot.  In my 
Romany with it's lower foredeck, I need to wear a bootie to retain a decent 
level of comfort over a long paddle. I've been pleased with the NRS 
Zippered Wetshoe since it has a sole that's reasonably substantial for 
walking over rocks and our cobble beaches.

When in my surfing or whitewater boats, I have to use a 'rodeo sock' due to 
the tight fit.  This is probably similar to what you note below.  NRS makes 
one that has a rubberized sole that give just a bit of protect, but not much.

As an aside, what made you choose the Elan?  Were you too small for the 
Express?  I've been thinking about replacing my Sirius with an Express for 
a while now and had thought about an Elan for my wife (who usually paddles 
the Romany but wants a P&H Vela). Did you get fore and aft bulkheads 
installed?  Or planning on using a sea-sock...?

Links:

http://www.nrscatalog.com/dept.asp?deptid=560
http://www.chotaoutdoorgear.com/wsports.html

Best,

Thomas

At 10:01 AM 11/11/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>My Mariner Elan will be arriving in about a week, and I am wondering about 
>footwear.  My shoe size is 8-1/2, so I generally need to size up to 9, and 
>I can't fit my Teva sandals into the boat.
>
>In warmer weather I can go barefoot (which is what I did when test 
>paddling the kayak in Seattle), or wear relatively thin neoprene socks, 
>but what about in colder weather and water?
>
>Thanks for any suggestions...
>
>merlin
>
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At 10:01 AM 11/11/2001 -0700, Merlin Emrys wrote:
>My Mariner Elan will be arriving in about a week, and I am wondering about 
>footwear.  My shoe size is 8-1/2, so I generally need to size up to 9, and 
>I can't fit my Teva sandals into the boat.
>
>In warmer weather I can go barefoot (which is what I did when test 
>paddling the kayak in Seattle), or wear relatively thin neoprene socks, 
>but what about in colder weather and water?
>
>Thanks for any suggestions...
>
>merlin
>
>***************************************************************************
>PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
>here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
>responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
>Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
>Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
>Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
>***************************************************************************
>


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