Test 2015: Summer shoes for windsurfers

"That too - testing summer shoes." As a convinced barefoot rider who only reaches for shoes when his feet are already ruined, this test sounded anything but tempting. But lo and behold, something has changed. By the time the shoe test had long been "done", reaching into the shoe rack had long since become routine, even at a tropical 27 degrees. Why should you cut your feet open on shards of glass, amputate your toe cap on the coral hidden in the sand or sacrifice your little toe to the foot strap? You can now find surf shoes that are so imperceptible that you should programme a reminder so that you don't forget to take them off in the evening. Clever frame constructions make it possible to build thin, flexible shoes that also retain their shape.

And if the trend for toe shoes in the office or at a casual garden party was fortunately reserved for a few fashionistas, it doesn't look bad at all with surf shoes - and it works.

Split Toe

This is because the split toe should not only move separately and freely, but the vertical "partition" between the number one and the smaller ones also increases the rigidity of the front shoe when the split toes are closed and prevents the shoe from "rolling up" under your feet at the front.

Equipment

Elasticated drawstrings easily give the impression that "it fits nicely", and the temptation to tighten the thin "laces" properly is therefore great. All settings are possible, from preventative tying in shark waters to homemade amputation slings. Particularly with the thinly padded laces, a gentle tightening is sufficient, the lace is primarily intended to prevent total loss, a waterproof lacing is not necessary for summer shoes. The very elastic, fairly tight-fitting ProLimit smooth-skin seals without a cord offer another pleasant side effect: Sand is also less likely to wash into the shoe, the last evil that has not yet been finally solved. Why the fasteners of the drawstrings are not attached to the side of all shoes remained a mystery to us during the test; the vertical fastener directly on the Achilles tendon did not suit everyone, only two centimetres to the side and the part looks as if it had never been there.

You can find the test results of these summer shoes in the PDF download:

- Camaro Titanium Ankle Slipper - Flying Object Flux Shoe - Gun Sails Sun Slipper - ION Ballistic Toes (blue) - ION Ballistiec Toes (grey/black) - Mystic Star - Mystic Reef - NP Edge Reef Split - NP Mission LC Round - Prolimit Raider - Prolimit Hydrogen - Prolimit Evo FL - Xcel Infinity - Xcel Reef

The following models were also tested in SURF 9/2015 (also included in the download PDF):

- Ascan Star Splitty - Ascan Beach - Ascan Kite

Downloads:

Summer shoes (pdf)