Paintball in Vibram FiveFingers
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 12:35AM Heavy breath and the shudder of adrenalin didn't sway me from my goal. The enemy was hunkered behind a stack of steel barrels 25 yards in front of me, and he had little idea that I was laying in wait. I quietly stood and trained my red-dot scope over the spot I calculated his head would next appear. A subtle movement and I pulled the trigger. A splat of blue paint covered Travis' mask... right between the eyes. His gun went up in recognition of his demise as I slipped to a new position in hunt for another victim.
;)
Paint-balling in Vibram FiveFingers? Why not?
It was early afternoon, and a group of us were up to no good. We needed something to do to keep us out of trouble. At first we thought a whitewater rafting trip was in order. Unfortunately, the boats weren't quite ready to go, and the water was still running high from a week of rain. We brainstormed some other activity ideas. For some reason we decided that shooting each other with balls of paint traveling from 250 - 300 feet per second (170-200 miles per hour) was a great idea... ouch.
I geared up with a multicam uniform, a desert tan V-Force grill mask, a Tiberius Arms T9 Elite rifle with a longbow setup, and my Vibram FiveFinger Classics. Incidentally, the walnut/brown seemed to compliment my camouflage, but the thought of making a call into Vibram to order a multicam KSO did come to mind a couple of times over the afternoon.
The Classics performed well. They were light and quiet, aiding in necessary stealth. The playing field was a tight circle of barrels and tires with a tower hovering over the center, and the fact that it was covered in wet, tall grass accounted for my soaked feet and the constant company of tufts of green in between my toes. As long as I kept moving, the saturation was no hinderance, and the grass between my digits only assisted my camo. A major benefit to having flexible, separated toes became apparent when I was forced by suppressive fire to drop into the grass for a slow belly crawl. I was able to easily grip the ground with my toes and push forward without a sound.
;)
The only downfall to my FiveFingers was the lack of protection. During one of our games, I was able to sneak to the tower. I took a risk to climb it for a better 'sniper' position and had to do so quickly to avoid detection. I raced up the ladder with my rifle slung to my back, and the barrel caught the back of my right heal leaving a significant gash. I managed to put a paintball into the chest of our one remaining opponent, so the sacrifice was worth it, but a little more protection around the ankle would be welcome, perhaps a desert tan version of the Vibram's discontinued neoprene Surge boot.
;)
When paintballing, don't forget to wear the proper protection. Although I was wearing a face mask, the thin shirt I had on offered little protection, especially when I was pinned down by a barrage of paintballs from eight feet away. Lucky for me, the player had poor aim, but the few balls that caught me left their mark. The picture shows what one of them did to my side... it looked much worse the next day when the yellow and purple hues framed the .68 calibre sphere ever-so-nicely.
I can't wait to get out and play again, but you'll find, or hopefully not find me, skirting around the trees and bush in my walnut/brown Classics and a little more upper body protection. Good times... good times.
Reader Comments (3)
Great story! Newbies definitely need to remember to wear thick clothes as the paintball do hurt a bit if you are wearing light shirts. I'm no wimp, but it's better to avoid the pain when you can.
I agree with the post, make sure to wear paintball protection like a vest or chest protector. I like the BT Paintball chest protectors myself.
great story i have vibrams also and i was thinking about playing in mine with my project salvo