Teva P1 : Don't Slip and Slide

In 1993 I drove from New York City to Chicago to the start of a month-long, 800-mile kayak race billed as the world's longest and richest event in paddle sports. I was with another competitor, a virtual stranger, and eager to make a favorable impression. But just an hour into the journey I could hold my tongue no longer. "Sort of smells like Secaucus, New Jersey in here!" I exclaimed. Apparently the water booties he'd worn during his 2,200 mile island-hopping paddle from Grenada to Puerto Rico were in back, heading west with us. "They're falling apart but I can't seem to throw them out," he said.

That was my first year in kayaking and I didn't know the serious bond serious paddlers form with their favorite booties. I do now. This winter the rancid-smelling neoprene booties that I'd been splashing about in for years lost the structural integrity to continue as footwear. (They're still in my kayak locker as I don't have the heart to throw them out, but I'm not proud of this fact.)

Enter the Teva P1. Designed to fit in the narrowest kayak - ever more important when you have size 13 dogs -- this above the ankle, two-tone bootie combines the best of a snug neoprene shoe with a thin, grippy outsole that wraps over my toes for added protection. Unlike booties I've worn in the past, the P1 has an internal split-toe for added lateral traction - a feature I appreciated while walking across a slimy sea wall riddled with barnacles.

Because of the split-toe design I can't wear insulating socks underneath, so I only wore them a handful of times this winter out on frigid Jamaica Bay, NY. But at the end of February I flew to Puerto Rico for a 22-mile open-ocean kayak race with my P1's in tow. Heading out for a swim on my first day on Culebra, a scenic island 17 miles to the east of Puerto Rico, I winced and moaned as I negotiated a minefield of vegetation just off the beach that looked like the tops of pineapples. Once I donned my P1's, however, I was strutting across the spiky floor like a peacock with custom insoles. They're snug and low profile enough to swim in and provide extra traction on the foot brace of my kayak - a plus when I'm in a tippy craft in rough water.      

Bottom Line : These 3.2 mm neoprene water shoes provide warmth and protection and -- so far at least - remain odorless.--J.G. (April '08)

Price : $50.00

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Manufacturer's Site: www.teva.com

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