Wow! these are the best. I have used these shoes for the last weeks racing and doing the foredeck on a J24. I stick to the deck like Spiderman, they smear very well, the corners grip very well too. Best of all I look cool in them, they don't look like my dad's boat shoes. 5 stars

I bought a pair of Gradient shoes based on my longstanding appreciation of Sperry's Topsider boat shoes. Gradients are not nearly as well designed.

In all fairness, there is much to like about the Gradient. Well constructed and will clearly hold up to constant wet wear. The materials appear tough and designed for wet useage. Plenty of drainage.

The problem is these shoes are constructed so that you cannot wear them barefoot. The tongue of the shoe is attached at the sides inside the shoe with a flap that leads down across your instep and is sewn down where the upper joins the sole. This flap of material has rough edges that will rub your instep raw when worn barefoot on wet feet. Similarly, the top edge of the heel pocket is rough and will rub wet feet raw.

In addition, the free floating insole will come out every time you pull your feet out. A small annoyance. In the surf zone near shore where the shore is sandy or gravelly, you will end up with sand and gravel both insider the shoe and underneath the insole. All of this is probably inevitable, but likely to damage the insole, which Sperry cannot replace for you. They do not stock replacement insoles.

I've had these shoes for almost a year and wear them fairly regularly, with the consistent result of raw and sore feet. At first, I thought I just needed to toughen my feet up. In advance of my recent sailing class, I wore these around the house and for taking the dog for a walk hoping to toughen up my feet. Two weekends of wear during a sunfish sailing class left me with raw and sore feet. I give up. Surely water shoes like these should be designed so that a person with wet bare feet won't end up in pain at the end of the weekend.

Who ever designed these should be sentenced to wear them barefoot in and out of the water for a weekend or three.

If you plan on wearing these with socks, they are probably OK. If like me, you wear your water shoes barefoot because you are in and out of the water a lot - look for something better designed.

NOT recommended. 1 star