Your sea boots should be roomy enough to hold your
feet, a pair of cotton socks, and some heavy wool
socks and still be loose enough to pull off easily.
There may come a day when you end up overboard and
have to swim to a life ring or climb up the side
of your plunging boat. If you can't get those boots
off fast, their waterlogged weight could spell the
difference between life and death.1 We
like 16-inch-high, relatively stiff-topped sea boots
because, for wet-weather sailing, we can use what
we call the "fireman's fast-pants drill."
We shove the foul-weather pants down over the top
of the boots, step out of the boots, and leave the
pants and boots together, ready for the next use.
I am slightly reluctant to recommend specific brands,
as products often change in quality and availability,
but after four years of extreme use, I definitely
feel the 16-inch Offshore boots sold by West Marine
for less than US$50 are a real bargain. I especially
like the small knob on the back of the heel that
makes it easy to get the boots off without using
your hands.
1Fishermen's sea boots usually have
a hole right below the top at the back of the
boot leg. They keep a string through here-not
just to hang the boots in a storage locker but
also for man-overboard emergency situations. If
they find themselves in the water, they remove
their boots, empty out the water, tie the two
together, put one boot under each armpit with
the line across their back so the air trapped
in the foot area provides instant buoyancy.
This tip is from our new revised
and expanded Third Edition of Care
and Feeding of Sailing Crew. It has just arrived
at Paradise Cay Publications. Click
here to read the first reviews plus a table of
contents.
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