PRODUCT NEWS: Columbia Drainmaker™ XTR Shoes

PRODUCT REVIEW

WORDS: Werner Lubbe | PHOTOS: Jessica de Villiers

Drainmaker – The shoe that stays wet and dry at the same time!

The water’s edge is a place where I spend a lot of time. I regularly tread the sandy, rocky or muddy edges of the water. Whether I am fishing or covering an event, I am always next to and just in the water at many a river and dam. During a typical fishing or reporting day, I can easily do 10 000 steps or more along the edge of the water, in and out, wet then dry!

During my fishing life of almost 50 years, I have had numerous pairs of shoes, booties and gumboots. Once or twice, and even sometimes three times a year, I’ve had to either have them repaired or replaced. The diving-type booties lasted the longest, but they are not the most comfortable and their soles are made for underwater use, not covering 10km along the bank.

So when I got the Columbia Drainmakers, I thought to myself: “Yeah, yeah, a normal pair of tekkies at the water … won’t work!” – until I started wearing them. At first I just wore them to work, going to town and so on, the normal type of usage, just to get them worn in. They are so comfortable and light however, that I just kept on wearing them! I wore them on a lengthy trail walk and ran with them in the hills as well. To be honest, I was actually a bit too sorry to get them dirty – did not really want to get them wet and full of mud. “What if they get damaged, they are so nice!” I thought.

Walking through the water, even in the mud, they do not come off or become water-trapped.

Well, what a surprise! The first time I wore them at the water was at a really rocky bank. I thought it was sort of okay to get them wet where there was no mud and I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and stable they were on the rocks. The Omni-Grip LT outsole gripped really well and also absorbed the shocks of the uneven, sharp rocks.

In the rocky areas, they grip well and absorb the sharp rocky edges.

The second time I wore them was on the bank of the Vaal Dam, in the thick sand at Knoppiesfontein on bitterly cold days during the Gys Pitzer Winter Classic. I had on a pair of thickish socks as well and wore them the entire weekend in the thick sand, even when recovering vehicles and having to walk in the water at the same time. I thought that due to the porous mesh upper the sand would find its way into the shoes, but to my surprise, not at all!

In the sand, the fine mesh keeps the sand out.

Then at the Woman’s Day Classic at the Jacky Leonard bank of the Vaal, I just let go and wore them the entire day, in and out of the water, in the thick mud. I thought they would never be the same again and that I had probably ruined them. Not so – the midsole ports not only keep your feet cool in the heat but also quickly drain the water. With the combination of mesh and synthetics on the upper, your foot also breathes and the water drains immediately. This gives that wet but dry feeling the entire day.

Water drains through the midsole ports as well as the upper mesh.

After the weekend in the mud, I thought they would never be clean again, but to my surprise, after just one session in the shower with me and a nail brush they were as clean and good as new!