text: I'm a competitive sailor in San Francisco Bay.  I need a serious pair of boat shoes.  I change into and out of my boar shoes on the boat.  They never see any street use.  These are very comfortable, but the rubber is a bit harder (less gripping power) than I would like.  The gripping power is acceptable though.  The &#34;stickiness&#34; of these soles may be an accommodation to other factors - wear, hardening, etc.  I had a different model (no longer made) of Sperry shoes that had great soles - really soft, lots of grip - but they dried out (got hard) after a year or so.  These slightly harder soles may last longer and prove to be a better value.  Time will tell.