[Paddlewise] Stinky Shoes

After almost one season of paddling I think I've narrowed my problem down.

I got a nice pair of Chota paddling shoes for Christmas last year and have run
into a bad smell problem with them.  Early in the season this year, I got seaweed
caught in the velcro straps that cross your instep and can't seem to get rid of
it.  The shoes are all right in the smell department when dry, however after a
paddle when I throw everything in the back of the car they are wet, when stopping
on the way home then leaving the car it smells ok since the smell builds slowly
and I've gotten used to it.  However, getting back into the car is terrible.  The
experience can charitably described as walking into a tidal mud flat at low tide!
All I want to do is roll down the windows and drive at high speed to flush out the
smell.

I've narrowed the smell source down to the shoes, and can only think that it's the
old seaweed that is the source.  I rinse them religiously when getting home, have
used tweezers to try and pick those little bits of vegitive matter out of the
velcro but just can not get rid of all of them or the smell.

Any advise would be appreciated.  The shoes are great and comfortable with a
curved heel that eliminated the pressure point of my old paddling shoes.  I'm down
to considering throwing them into the mulch pile over the winter to accererate the
decomposition process.  However I'm not sure what that will do to the rest of the
shoe.

John Blackburn

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