Alright, so my boots are not as bad as the photo above, but I have had my sailing boots way too long! I need new ones. They have no tread, and have never fit properly. I bought them on sale, and thought what the heck? So, this week I am going to take you along on a gear shopping trip.

First off I need to figure out what I need. I currently have Keen sandals for summer, Salomon runners for summer, and then Helly winter boots, so I am doing pretty good. What I really need are summer/off-season sailing boots to keep my feet dry and warm-ish. So I need basic cruising boots. My wishlist includes:

Now that I have figured out basically what I am looking for, time to start pricing things out! Here are the brands I am looking into (I have left out Gill and Helly as I already have boots/shoes from them and want to test something new!):

How did I narrow down my list you ask? Well I did a quick Google search and then I canvassed some of my Facebook sailing groups. 

Check out sailnelson.com/podcast for the rest of this article!