Surfing Booties Guide
For surfers who live around the world outside of warm, tropical climates, it isn’t uncommon to have to surf in places that require wetsuits, neoprene gloves, and surf booties.
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Booties accomplish two excellent things: they keep your feet warm and they protect your feet from rocks and reefs while also providing some grip on your board. Of course, finding a high-quality pair of booties can be quite difficult with so many options on the market.
We've reviewed the best surfing booties to make sure your feet stay warm, protected, and on your board so you can keep shredding!
Our Favorite Picks
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#1 O'Neill Superfreak 2mm Tropical Split Toe
#2 O'Neill Heat 3mm Split Toe
#3 Rip Curl Flash Bomb Hidden Split Toe
The Top 7 Best Surfing Booties
#1 O'Neill Superfreak 2mm Tropical Split Toe
The O'Neill Superfreak is a truly great surf bootie.
The robust rubber sole provides great protection against reefs and rocks for all surfers. We like the comfortable feel, but don't size down for a snugger fit.
These are already designed to fit snugly like all surf booties should.
These are only 2MM thick, so they are definitely for warm water and more for protection than warmth.
These booties toe on easily but fit snugly with the a tight lock down drawstring and hook/loop strap to keep your feet from sliding around on the footbed.
Finally, the deep split toe allows for great balance and ability to feel your board. Overall we rate these as the best reef booties for surfing!
#2 O'Neill Heat 3mm Split Toe
If you take all of the things we like about our top pick surf bootie and add keeping your feet warm you'd have the O'Neill Heat 3MM Split Toe.
These split toe booties are hi tops and we love the flex zone in the front of the ankle, which makes them easier to get on and off than most surf boots.
They offer excellent grip on your board to help keep you out of the water.
They are comfortable no matter what the surf or bottom conditions throw at you.
Nobody wants to surf when cold, so these neoprene split toe booties should keep you on the water and in the surf for more time each session!
#3 Rip Curl Flash Bomb Hidden Split Toe
The Rip Curl Flash Bomb is our highest rated hidden split toe design.
These offer all the benefits of split toe booties while keeping covering the space between your toes so you don't end up face down in the sand after tripping on your leash the is caught like flip flops between your lower digits.
The Rip Curl Flash Bomb provide excellent grip for surfers, and are very comfortable to wear.
We love surfing in these booties because our feet stay stable and in place on the footbed, the split toe helps with the feel on the board, and they are just great for surfers.
The Rip Curl Flash Bomb protects your feet on the way to the surf, in the surf, and on the way back which is why we recommend these booties!
Just like the Rip Curl Flash Bomb, you won't get your leash tangled in these round toe O'Neill Heat surfing booties.
These boots run very true to size, and are among the most comfortable to wear.
They are also among the thickest booties we reviewed for the coldest conditions keeping the frigid waters away from your lowest extremities! The grip on the Heat will help keep you on your board and the feel is just fine.
We generally like feel of split toes better, but for beginning to intermediate surfing you probably won't feel the difference in your booties most of the time.
We'd go surfing in these booties any time we need more protection against the cold water!
The Hypeflex Pro Series Round Toe offers superior sole construction for awesome grip.
The Hyperflex amp up the grip with diamond shaped channels on the sole to help pass the water through more efficiently than other designs so you stay glued to your board.
These round toe booties come in different thicknesses, so you can choose the millimeters you need for the water where you do your best surfing.
Also, Hyperflex amp up the comfort by using a microfleece thermal lining for warmth and protection.
The other great feature on the Hyperflex is the heel pull tab.
You don't usually see this on booties, but it is exceedingly helpful when pulling the booties on and taking them off.
We'd take all that the Hyperflex amp up and recommend these as awesome booties!
We love the little trick the Quicksilver Syncro has to keep the leash from going in between your toes.
They don't totally hide the opening between your toes, but they add just a little bit of the front sole wrap up to cover the front of the slit.
It means you can't quite spread your toes nearly as far apart, but it still allows for the flexibility of the normal split toe design while keeping you from tripping on your leash.
The sole is super soft, which means you can really stay in touch with your board.
The soft sole also make them super comfortable both in the water and on your board.
They sacrifice a little bit of protection on land, but theses booties make it a good compromise.
Last but not least on our list of booties are the FCS SP2. These are low cut booties for warm water, but they still include two straps to help transfer your torsion through the booties on to the board.
That is a very desirable thing when you are on the water.
The neoprene is only 1.5MM, so they don't provide much in the way of thermal protection.
However, they will keep your feet safe from reefs and rocks both on land and in the water.
These booties are comfortable and easy to get on and off.
If you are looking for warm water booties, you can't go wrong with the FCS SP2!
FAQ
Round VS Split Toe
There are three main forefoot designs surfers wear for booties. They are split toe design, round toe, and hidden split toe. Each has their advantages, which are fairly straight forward, and none of the advantages have to do with the water temp because they all come in different thicknesses. The least complicated type is the round toe, which simply means that the front is like a shoe in that all of your toes are together underneath a rounded front like shoes for surfing.
The main advantage is that your leash can't get stuck between your toes, but it comes at the cost of being able to apply different levels of pressure through each of your toes for the greatest balance and leverage when surfing.
Split toe designs do the opposite, allowing your big toe to flex differently from the rest of your toes like the thumb in mittens. Split Toes allows for greater balance and maneuverability and board feel on the deck of your board. However, it is way easier than you think to get your leash (or anything else) stuck between your toes. The Hidden Split Toe design tries to take the best of both worlds.
Internally the toes are separated allowing for variable flex, but not as much as a true split toe. However, the hidden means they also cover the slit like a round toe to keep things from being stuck between your toes.
We generally recommend split toe or hidden split toe for more advanced riding, but round toes can work just fine too in almost all applications.
Which millimeter (mm) should I get?
When looking at your wetsuit shoes it all depends on where you are going to surf. Cold water surfing? Then you want thicker neoprene. Paddling out in Hawaii in the warm tropical water? Then you can get away with reef booties that are thinner neoprene. We like to match the neoprene thickness to the thinnest neoprene on our wetsuit, but if you get cold feet easily then go with the thickest part of your wetsuit. So, if you are rocking a 3/2 wetsuit you can probably get away with 2MM neoprene booties.
If you are farther north and diving in for some cold water surfing with a 4/3 wetsuit then you probably want your wetsuit booties to be at least 3MM thick. Tropical waters mean probably no wetsuit, and too thick wetsuit boots can make your feet hot. All you are really looking for is some reef protection, so 1-1.5MM will work just fine. The best booties for surfing are all about your comfort, so you want to make sure that your feet stay warm enough without restricting your movement and feel on your board. Here is a good chart with recommendations for wetsuit thickness vs. water temp!
High Top VS low cut ankle?
This again falls to comfort and where you surf. Most surfers in warmer waters will stick with low cut ankles because it gives the most freedom of motion, and they don't require the cold protection. Cold water surfers mostly go with hi top surf boots so they can tuck them in under their wetsuits to keep cold waters from coming over the top of their ankles.
That can lead to very cold feet indeed! As a rule of thumb, if you don't need anything more than a spring wetsuit, then you can get away with reef booties when you are surfing. If your wetsuit needs to keep you warm, then your best wetsuit booties for surfing are probably hi tops. The real drawback to high tops s that they can be hard to get on and especially off. However, hi top surf boots are definitely worth the hassle to keep your feet warm during your time in the cold water.
Can I just use Scuba Booties?
When surfing, yes, use surf booties. Even though both are in the water, the surf shoes are much different than scuba booties. Scuba Booties are much more like athletic shoes, with hard soles meant for walking and fitting in to scuba fins. They usually zip up the side and don't offer any kind of feel on your board. The only similarity you could say about them is that they are both made of neoprene. Surfers should get surf boots, not scuba booties.
Final Verdict - Which Should I Buy?
The Rip Curl Flash Bomb is a great hidden split toe, but we love the O'Neill Superfreak 2MM Tropical for lots of reasons (not the least of which being that it means we are surfing somewhere in warm water!). They provide excellent grip on the board, excellent board feel, and provide excellent protection for your feet from rocks and reefs alike.
They are easy surf booties to put on with the drawstring and strap design. Also, they are durable enough and easy enough to take care of even when you just throw them in the back of your car for days on end. We like the fit, we like the neoprene thickness, and we like how they feel on our feet which is why we recommend the O'Neill Superfreak 2MM Tropical Split Toe as our top pick for surf booties.
