Everyone has an opinion about training equipment, here's mine... By Chuck Gleason

If you've ever sat around with a few of your barefoot buds telling stories and lies about the awesome tricks your learning, the conversation always tends to migrate to a debate over either who has the best boat to ski behind, or who has the best equipment to learn new tricks with. Since we all agree that Sanger is by far the best barefoot boat, I'll hold off on that topic till a later date. Instead, I'm writing this month's article about a piece of equipment that is probably debated over just as much. The topic: Who has the best shoe ski?

There are currently 3 shoe skis on the market barefooters have to choose from, other than making your own out of a piece of plywood. They are:

Mike Siepel "Foot Skis"   $59.99
Ron Scarpa's "Barefoot Trainers" $129.99 Sizes:  Small, Med, Large Also available in cut-down sizes
Lane Bowers "Puppy Paws"  $129.95 Sizes:  Mens 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 Special order smaller & larger sizes
BarefootCentral's Extreme Footers " $119.99 Sizes:  Mens 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 Womens 6 - 11 Bases sized to fit shoes

Now, I know what your first thought is, "I'm a barefooter, I'm broke, and the Siepel skis are the cheepest, so I'll get those".  Well, before you go getting too excited about saving a little money, read on...

I'm always amazed every time a go skiing with a friend or even when I'm at a tournament skiing with the so called "upper echelon footers", and see the shabby equipment some guys have in their bags.  We will spend months saving in order to buy a new barefoot boat every other year, but won't give a second thought to skiing on rope or handle that has been in our bag for 5 years, or even use a beat-up pair of shoe skis to learn on.

Well, I'll clue you in on something, the boat doesn't make the skier.  I'm sure Ron Scarpa & Keith St. Onge could trick 9,000 points behind any Wally boat on the lake, but I bet they couldn't do it without a good barefoot suit, handle or rope.  What I'm getting at, in my own round-about way, is that you need to start paying more attention to the equipment you train with instead of the next boat your want to buy.

Well back to the issue at hand, Shoe Skis.  You get to a point in your barefooting career when you want to do something other than stand there in the survival position.  You start thinking about going backwards, one-foots, toe-holds, and maybe before you die, surface turns.  A lot of footers tend to think that in order to be considered a real footer, you should only ski on your feet.  You can recognize these footers easily out on the lake.  They are the ones spending more time face planting than skiing.  A lot of people give up footing at this stage because they don't like the hard constant falls, and they are frustrated by the amount of time it is taking them to learn new tricks.

I can guarantee you one thing for sure. You are not going to learn surface turns without shoe skis, unless you like being knocked unconscious every weekend.

Now that you are marginally convinced you need shoe skis to accelerate your learning curve, we can talk about the three main issues that surround the debates over shoe skis.

Issue #1:    To fly off or not to fly off, that is the question....

Issue #2:    Flexible or stiff, what feels the best?

Issue #3:    Size, does it really matter?

Issue #4:    Which shoe is made with the best materials?

Now before I go any farther, you may be asking yourself, what makes me such an expert on shoe-skis?  Well of course, I'm no more of an expert than anyone else who has been using shoe skis to train with for the last 6-7 years.

I have been barefooting for nearly 15 years.  I spent the first 4 trying to learn everything the hard way, or what I considered at the time, the "Real Barefooter" way.  After 4 years, The only tricks could do was a one-foot and a tumble turn. 

One day I started skiing with a footer considerably better than myself (Joey Henderson).   I asked him how he learned all his tricks, and he told me he skied nearly 60% of the time on shoe-skis while training.  I didn't believe him, or at least I didn't want to at the time.  I didn't feel I would get the same adrenaline rush on the shoes as I did my feet. 

Joey spent a whole summer trying to convince me to use J-skis to learn new tricks like backwards, and toe-holds.  I finally gave in, and within 2 months, I was doing back deeps on the boom, both toe-holds, and solid one-foot wakes.   Within the next 2 years, I learned back toe-ups, toe-turns, and back-to-fronts all using the shoe skis.

When I got to the point of learning front-to-backs, I hit a brick wall.  I could do them all day on the J-Skis, but was having very little luck on my feet.  So I started experimenting with everything from boat speeds, to shoe ski size, and shoe flexibility. 

During the 2 years it took me to learn my surface turns on my feet, I watched every video and tried every shoe ski available to me.  I trained with Scarpa, Bowers, Siepel and Stokes, and they all told me to go as slow as possible on the shoes to get used to the large pull you have to initiate on your feet.  But going 15-20 mph and doing a surface turn is a whoooole lot different than doing it on your feet at 40-42 mph, and being 6'4" and 215 lbs. didn't help either.

So, in the next few pages, I'm going to give you my personal opinion about what I think works and doesn't work when using the shoe skis sold by Siepel, Scarpa, Bowers, and BarefootCentral.com.  I'm sure some of you are going to disagree with me.  If so, you can always email me.  I'll create a web page and publish some of your comments.  But for now, read on....

Issue #1:    To fly off or not to fly off, that is the question...

Mike Siepel claims that he makes his shoe skis so they will come off your feet instead of injure your knees while learning new tricks.

Lane Bower's "Dawg Paws" tie up like tennis shoes and fit snuggly to your foot. They will not come off.

Scarpa has you place your foot in a rubber sock, that will come off, but not as easy as Siepel's.

Barefoot Central's Extreme Footers have a single strap that allows you to tighten them for a snug fit, but they are flexible and will come off during a hard fall.

    So who has the best design? 

I give this one to the Extreme Footers, Runner up Scarpa trimmed down version.

After skiing on Siepel's Foot Skis for about a month, I had more knots on my head from the Foot Skis landing on it after a fall than I ever received from the fall itself.   The last thing I want to be worrying about when I fall is my shoe skis hitting me in the head.

As for the argument that the ski should come off before the knee gets hurt.  Well, you aren't going to have that option when you start skiing on your feet.  The most dangerous trick to learn, as far as the knee is concerned, is the back-to-front when you are pivoting on the back foot and stepping over with the lead foot.  Your foot is completely sideways and you catch the inside of your foot (ouch!).  No shoe ski is going to save you from this pain. 

Siepel's skis are designed to come off from the back, not the side.  Your knee will feel the strain of your foot catching sideways long before the ski pops off. 

When I was using Siepel's skis, I felt that they caused me to fall more often because they felt more like a loose sandal than they did a part of my foot. The Dawg Paws, being laced tightly to your foot, allows you to feel the edge of your ski much better, resulting in completing tricks a lot cleaner.  The transition to your feet is also more natural. You don't have to re-learn the feeling of the trick moving from the Dawg-Paw to your feet.

I think Scarpa chose the medium in order to please more footers overall.  Not a bad idea, but I personally prefer the shoe ski that gives me the most realistic feel of the water. 

Barefoot Central's Extreme Footers give you the best of both worlds.  Their shoe gives you the control over how tight you like the shoe to be.  If you want a little looser fit, ease up on the strap.  If you are like me and what a snug fit with the assurance that the shoe will still pull off in the hard falls, tighten the strap down harder.    Once again we feel the Extreme Footers offer the best design.

Issue #2:    Flexible or stiff, what feels the best?

Mike Siepel Foot Skis are hard as a rock.

Dawg Paws are tennis shoes mounted to a black thick rubber type substance than is very firm, and slightly  flexible.

Scarpa Trainers are latex booties mounted to a thin flexible foam-type substance. 

The Extreme Footers and Lady Pro Trainers are similar to the Dawg Paws in size and color, but are much lighter and more flexible.

    So who has the best design? 

This is a close race between the Extreme Footers and Dawg "Puppy" Paws.

I have never understood why Siepel has stayed with the rock hard polyurethane skis.   Your foot isn't hard; at least mine isn't.  It might have been a great idea in the 70's, but with all the high tech materials out nowadays, why doesn't he try something new?  I can only figure that due to the price, he sells more shoes than Scarpa and Bowers combined.  I'll stick with the innovators.

With a stiff ski, you will find yourself sliding more than you ever will on your feet.  Try to do wake crosses on Siepel skis, and if you can get them to stay on, you then have to overcome the constant feeling of your foot trying to slide out from underneath you.  The more things you have to worry about while you're skiing the longer it seem to take you to learn.

Both the Dawg Paws and Scarpa Trainers give you a more natural feel.  Scarpa's just tend to float a little more because they aren't secured to your feet as well as the Dawg Paws, but as far as a more natural flex feel, the Dawg Paw and Scarpa Trainers are pretty close.  Scarpa recently started cutting his trainers down so they are the same size as the Dawg Paws.  The cut down version is much more stable and comfortable feeling.  This modification makes them feel exactly like Dawg Paws, put are a little lighter.

Our winner once again was the Extreme Footers and Lady Pro Trainers.  Due to the Extreme Footers added flexibility, they offered a very realistic foot flex while I skied on them.  When I skied backwards on them I could feel them flex with my foot giving me a very realistic feel as to what it would feel like on my feet.  The fact that they weigh nearly half as much as the Dawg Paws makes them where you can hardly tell your wearing shoes at all.

Issue #3:    Size, does it really matter?

Mike Siepel Foot Skis are short and fat.

Dawg Paws are a little longer, but narrower.

Scarpa Trainers are longer and wider, more like J-Skis for those of you in the know.   Scarpa also offers his in a cut-down version, basically the same size as the Dawg Paws.

Extreme Footers are the same size as the Dawg Paws

    So who has the best design? 

Originally I gave this one hands down to the Extreme Footers and the Dawg Paws.  But since Scarpa now offers the cut-down versions, I would call this a tie.

Once again, Mike's Foot Skis seem to have it backwards.  My foot is not short and fat, it is long and narrow.  Now, one thing I can say in favor of the Foot Skis is that they are easier to ski on at slower speeds.  I can do surface turns as slow as 15 mph on Mike's skis, as well as Scarpa's larger model due to their size, but I can't go much slower than 25 on the Dawg Paws.  Now bear in mind, I'm 6'4" and 215 lbs.   Most people could go as slow at 17-20 on the Paws.

While learning surface turns, I spent a year skiing on J-Skis.  The Scarpa Trainers have only been out since they stopped selling J-Skis.   I even tried the Siepel skis, but eliminated them after a day. 

When learning surface turns, if you get used to the slippery Siepel Skis and larger model Trainers, you will have a harder time transitioning to your feet where you feel more friction than slickness.  The Dawg Paws weigh more, and allow your foot to stick and feel the friction of the turn.  But during the turn, they flex naturally with your foot and are very forgiving thur the finish of the turn.

The scariest thing about learning front-to-backs on your feet is the increase in boat speed and the fact that your feet don't slide around giving you time to recover from a sloppy attempt. 

The Dawg Paws and Extreme Footers are a little more difficult during your first few attempts because they feel so much more like your feet, and require you to run a little faster (26-28mph) while learning.  They also don't slide, thus requiring you to be more exact in movements. 

Instead of slowing the boat down for surface turns in order to get the feel of the pull I was to experience on my feet, I found that by speeding the boat up to 34-36 mph on the Paws and Extreme Footers made me less fearful of the jump to 40.  Now for an average footer (i.e. 175 lbs.), I wouldn't go much faster than 32, but you should also be able to do a turn on your feet at 36-38 mph on the boom.

When it comes to wakes, there is nothing better than the Extreme Footers or Dawg Paws.  You can run any speed you want and not worry at all about them sliding out on you.  They grab just like your feet.  My wife Michele was doing back wakes a week after learning to do a back deep on the Paws.  She then converted to the Lady Pro Trainers and picked up back one-foot wakes almost immediately.  She claimed that the added flex made her feel more confident in the backwards position.

Issue #4:   Which shoe is made with the best materials?

Mike Siepel Foot Skis are made out of polypropylene.  It's virtually indestructible.

Dawg Paws are made by mounting a canvas high-top tennis-shoe to a rubber base.

Scarpa Trainers are made using several materials.  It's a vacuum formed high density foam base glued to a plastic upper base with rubber seals (similar to dry-suit seals) formed into boots that are glued to the plastic base.

The Extreme Footers and Lady Pro Trainers are made by mounting a reinforced neoprene water shoe, made by Chota Outdoor Gear, the a flexible rubber base.

    So who has the best design? 

They each have good and bad points.

For rock hard durability, Siepel takes the prize.  His shoe-skis will last you a life-time.   They are durable because they are not flexible at all.  No movement may make them last longer, but they also give up a lot of real feel.

For long-lasting durability without sacrificing comfort or performance on the water, I would say that the Extreme Footers and Lady Pro Trainers offer the best design.  They have chosen to manufacture their shoes with components that are made to stand up to the harsh water conditions.  Neoprene shoes with drain holes, rubber base material, and stainless steel hardware.  An added bonus is that they glue the shoes to the bases as well as insert safety screws in the front and back to keep the shoes from separating from the bases.

Though I have rated the Dawg Paws the highest in every other category, I will have to give them the lowest rating in this one.  When you spend $130 bucks for a pair of shoe-skis, you expect a more technical product.  The canvas shoes fall apart very quickly due to their getting wet continuously.  It's just like what would happen if you leave your canvas shoes out in the rain for weeks at a time.  In the first three years I owned my Dawg Paws, I had to replace the tops at least twice.  The good news is that the rubber bases are indestructible.  The bad news is that they don't use stainless steel hardware to mount the shoes to the bases.  You'll need a good pair of vice grips to get the bolts apart.

The Scarpa Trainers give you a product that will last in the water, and looks like it has $130 worth of manufacturing in them.  The only problem you will experience with the Trainers is the rubber will dry out and crack if you don't keep it lubricated like you would a dry-suit.  Plus, if it cracks, or tears, they are much harder to repair.   I also like the fact that the Trainers are lightweight.

So there you have it.  That's my opinion on shoe skis.  In summary, if I were about to invest my hard earned cash into a pair of shoe skis I would definitely go for the BFC Extreme Footers.  At $119.99, you can't go wrong.

The End