Help boots with good grip

Can't agree with you on two points there, Nick.

My Typhoon razor cuts are if anything a bit flexible and thin to cope with a rocky beach (a friend looked at mine and leveled that accusation at them), but do grip nicely on a gunwale and like heck on gelcoat. What's with the 'bend around curved racks and gunwales' anyway? You should be trapezing on the balls of your feet, not the insteps!

My crew, on the other hand, uses the Gill Trapeze boots, and I'm regularly treated to cursing and scrabbling as she slips on the gelcoat (then trapezes on her insteps  )

the best boots by far for grip are the TEVA - spider rubber boots

always used them and never found a problem normally get at least 2 years use as well

Razon cut is very good on gelcoat but hopeless on wet grass and mud.  Soft windsurfing shoes good for windsurfing but not strong enough when pulling a heavy boat up a slope and inclined to get grit and stones inside when pulling boats across beaches.  Sex wax is absolutely fantastically good and is very easily removed when it gets dirty by using warm to hot water.  Progrip OK for places of high wear but must add a load of weight to a boat if you put it everywhere you might need extra grip - I wouldn't dream of using it except on the racks.

Ronstan sailing boots excellent and last years, with firm enough soles for pulling boats up beaches and ramps, fine grip on gelcoat (but on a skiff you need everything you can get so invest in some sex wax).  Snag free and a velcro tab which effectively stops the zip from slipping.  Mine have lasted about 6 years of winter and summer sailing and will need to be replaced sometime this year.  Unlike other boots I've tried the upper does not come away from the sole and so they are still effective at stopping stones and grit from sloshing in.  The only reason I will change them is because the sole is now getting thin and so there is no longer the support I need when lugging a boat up the beach (just like new windsurfing shoes)!

I use Typhoon dinghy boots with a razor-cut sole. Never had any slipping probs, including on wet, textured gelcoat. Crews of mine with chunky-soled 'trapeze boots' and the like have had a lot of probs on the gelcoat.

Suspect it's the razor-cut you need to look for. I suspect it's also important to keep the soles out of UV light to avoid them ageing/hardening.