To wear shoes or not wear shoes, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler on the feet to suffer stubs and breaks of outrageous fortune or to don shoes and save them?
There is a basket at the bottom or top of every superyacht’s gangway into which you are obligated to deposit your shoes, and if you Google the subject of shoes on a boat, you will find many articles on the etiquette for superyachts (as I did). So one conclusion is to follow the owner or crew’s requests as to what to wear aboard a superyacht, a regular yacht or a boat. Many passengers and crew on these vessels have shoes worn strictly while aboard.
Clearly there is a difference between visiting a friend’s yacht for martinis at the yacht club and yanking up tuna for a paycheck. So let’s talk about recreational vessels and accepted norms.
Don’t wear stilettos or black sole shoes that scuff (some black soles don’t scuff). Don’t wear shoes with tread that can catch rocks, some of the best boat shoes fit this category by the way, so check for rocks if you leave them on. We don’t want to damage decks.
Weather, rain and deck surfaces also influence foot wear, teak decks, non skid paint particles or molded surfaces all feel differently and react differently when wet. We don’t want to slip, particularly underway.
We also don’t want to track dirt onto boats, most noticeable when we step on a wet deck and see our dirty foot prints. For this purpose, flip flops work well. I usually carry flip flops for the many trips off and back onto a boat I make while surveying it. While they are not safe underway, they slide off and on conveniently. If I have to take off shoes and socks repeatedly, I end up just taking off shoes eventually and either track dirt with socks or have wet socks. Taking off your shoes and walking on and off the boat is just as bad as wearing shoes or perhaps worse for tracking dirt.
And for those old timers like me, the options for boat shoes have expanded widely. Here is one site with interesting options.
Regardless of what type of shoe or how pretty your feet, step aboard with your right foot. Stepping aboard with your left foot is bad luck.