EV Eight

The Astral EV-Eight was the breathable one. Astral built it around a technology they call Airescape, with a mesh liner instead of solid fabric against your body, and in a Florida summer that is not a small thing.

Astral Has Retired the EV-Eight

Straight answer first: Astral discontinued this model and it is no longer in their line. What we have on the rack is the end of it. The current equivalent is the V-Eight 4.0, which we also carry. If the size you need is here, a discontinued jacket is still a perfectly good jacket — nothing about the approval or the foam changes because the catalogue moved on.

Breathability and the High Mesh Back

Two things work together on the Astral EV-Eight. The liner is a breathable polyester mesh rather than a solid nylon, so air moves through the jacket instead of sitting against your shirt. And the back is high mesh — the flotation rides up above where a tall kayak seat ends, so the seat presses on mesh rather than foam. That combination is the reason this jacket had a following among people who paddle in heat.

If you have only ever worn a generic boating vest in a rec kayak, the difference is immediate. A slab of foam across the middle of your back fights a modern high-back seat and pushes you forward into a slouch, and it hurts inside half an hour.

Approval and Fit

A US Coast Guard Type III with 16 lb of design buoyancy. Type III is the paddling category — a flotation aid for a conscious person in protected water with help nearby, not an offshore vest that self-rights you.

Sized by chest measurement:

• S/M — 31" to 37"

• M/L — 38" to 44"

• L/XL — 45" to 51"

Do the fit test before you buy. Zip it, tighten the waist and sides first and the shoulders last, then have someone pull straight up on the shoulders. If it rides past your chin it is too big or too loose, and a jacket that rides up in the shop will ride up over your face in the water.

Astral EV-Eight Details

• US Coast Guard Type III

• 16 lb design buoyancy

• Polyethylene and EVA foam

• Shell: bluesign approved, 100% recycled 300D Diamond RPET

• Liner: breathable polyester mesh

• Airescape breathable construction

• High mesh back for tall kayak seats

• Centre front zip, YKK self-locking Vislon

• 1.22 lb

On the rack in Clearwater in Water Blue and Eggplant. Sizes are thin — call before you drive out if you need a specific one.