Finally Tested on the River
I finally got the chance to test them on the water.
Astral Rassler 2.0
In Hokkaido, the window for paddling without a drysuit is only about one month out of the year. Wearing a full drysuit in the heat of summer carries its own risks — heat exhaustion being the obvious one — but when you factor in rescue scenarios where you might end up in the water for an extended period, a thermal layering system is still essential.
In colder months, my base setup is a dry top combined with dry pants, with mid-layers adjusted to match the air temperature. If you’re familiar with mountain layering — base, mid, outer — it’s the same concept applied to the river. For longer river trips, choosing layers you can easily add or remove based on conditions is the smarter approach.
I’ve gotten a bit off track talking about clothing — this is a shoe review after all. The relevant detail here is that with wool socks and dry pants with integrated socks, I sized up one full size from my normal fit. That turned out to be exactly the right call.
Why the Astral Rassler 2.0 Works So Well for Packrafting
The Rassler 2.0 is comfortable enough to walk around in on land without any issues. On wet river rocks and on the slippery coated nylon surface of a packraft, it grips like nothing else I’ve tried. The secret is Astral’s unique GSS rubber sole — and I’ll be honest, it genuinely surprised me.
Felt-soled wading shoes, common in fly fishing and mountain stream fishing, provide good traction on riverbed rocks but are nearly useless on the coated nylon of a packraft — completely slippery. Trail running shoes, on the other hand, handle trail surfaces and bank rocks well, but aren’t always reliable underwater on slick riverbeds. (That said, trail runners can still be a valid choice for packrafting depending on the situation.)
The GSS rubber sole on Astral water shoes looks like a standard lug pattern at first glance, but when you flex the sole, you can see a much finer secondary pattern underneath. Once you see it, the price tag starts to make a lot more sense.
That hidden texture is what delivers grip both on submerged rocks and on wet packraft fabric — two surfaces that defeat almost every other shoe.
The sole is soft, which means heavy use on pavement will wear it down faster — but since I have no intention of wearing these around town, that’s not a concern.
Beyond the sole, there are drainage ports at the toe and heel. Thanks to these, water clears out quickly after stepping out of the river — no more that uncomfortable feeling of sloshing around in waterlogged shoes. That’s kayak shoe design doing its job.
And the aesthetic is pure Astral — an old-school silhouette that no other brand quite pulls off.
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