Booties Question

[Doc Sparty]

Please forgive any ettiquette gaffs I may make in my posting. I'm new both to this forum and to scuba. I have a question pertaining to booties...or boots. Since I surf I need booties in order to maintain feeling in my feet on those cold, winter sessions. I'm in the market for surfing booties and want to use the same booties for scuba. Can this be done? I'm looking into O'Neill Gooru or Freak booties. I've searched scuba gear web sites and the boots don't look all that different. Can someone enlighten me? I'd appreciate it since I can't really afford 2 pairs of booties.

Thanks.

Doc Sparty

 

[Charlie99]

...... since I can't really afford 2 pairs of booties.

There is a possiblity that the neoprene for surfing and scuba are different materials, since surfing booties don't need to survive multiple compression cycles from the water pressure at depth. After many dives wetsuits will stay compressed a bit, and lose some of their thermal insulation. The concern is that a neoprene not suited for scuba diving will stay compressed after just a few dives. I tend to believe that this isn't all that true anymore, but don't have any hard info to back that guess up.

Your best bet is to go directly to the source and ask O'neill. Then come back here and enlighten us.

 

[Tigerman]

I do windsurfing and scubadiving, and basically my scubadiving booties are thicker than the ones I use when windsurfing and thats more or less the only visible difference on them.. The ones I use for windsurfing can be a bit thinner as im not exactly planning to spend all day in the water

 

[dcs917]

Only other comment might be to be careful with regard to the soles of the booties. Where I dive, the shore entry is pretty rocky, so I use a boot that has a "tennis sneaker" sole. Not sure if this would be suitable for a surfboard, but probably not.

Dive (and surf) Safe!

 

[chaosa]

I've got the O'neill dive boots Fx-5mm and have used them for surfing and diving with no problem. From looking at O'neills website the boots you are looking at are made from same stuff as mine!!
Be careful if you decide go for split toe boots and check that they are ok with your fins as my old split toe surf boots were uncomfortable when i tried to use them with fins when i started diving.

 

[pupdiver]

I think it depends a lot on where you are going diving. I am in So Cal and the diving here is pretty cold. Most people here want thicker boots for diving than for surfing. Also, some of the shore diving here calls for rubber soles. Bottom line: You will need to provide more info to get a useful answer, I think.

 

[meesier42]

Surf neoprene is different stuff, Much warmer for thickness, but all that air in them kills their compressibility. So they are great, but they likely will compress more and not be as warm at depth, also they loose all resiliency much more quickly. For booties, they should be good, although I would not recommend using a surf suit.

 

[Tigerman]

Surf neoprene is different stuff, Much warmer for thickness, but all that air in them kills their compressibility. So they are great, but they likely will compress more and not be as warm at depth, also they loose all resiliency much more quickly. For booties, they should be good, although I would not recommend using a surf suit.

Or he could just use the dive suit and boots for surfing, if the conditions allow it..

 

[Gary D.]

Booties, Hummmmm. There are so many different kinds.

There are BIG booties, little booties and in between booties.
Nice booties and not so nice booties.
Cute booties and not so cute booties.
Teen booties and granny booties.
Athlete booties and couch potato booties.
Sexy booties and turn off booties.
But one thing sure is there are some that shake their bootie and some that should never shake their bootie.

You don’t have to go far to see the entire selection.

On a serious note, just spring for two pair that are designed for the proper application.

Gary D.

 

[diverdown247]

It can be done, but it's not recommended. As has been stated already, the dive booties are thicker neoprene than the surfing booties would be. Surf booties are designed so that the rider can "feel" the board and changes in the wave under the foot as well as create a gripping aid.

Compare it to drag-racing: there's a groove down the 1/4 mile you need to be in or you lose your grip, slicks are generally used to create grip and allow the driver to feel the track surface while in the car....Surfing is similar as the wave has a "groove" in it that the rider attempts to feel and stay in (especially inside the tube) and changes in that groove are translated through the board to the feet.