Taft (Siltetz River) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cooking for the Siltetz River mouth at Taft.

The outlook starts off slow, real slow. Through the first week, we’ve got waves, but they’re mostly small, short period, and fighting against choppy wind. The water is sitting at 57°, which is a bit colder than normal for this time of year. There’s a run of days from the 11th to about the 14th where nothing really comes together nice. A gap of several days where the surf just isn't worth paddling out for.

The only real standout in the whole window is Friday morning, September 11th. That morning brings in a solid 6 ft swell from the NW, but with a short 9-second period. The magic is in the wind – it’s glassy, dead calm. That’s a rare treat for a river mouth. The swell has moderate energy (852), and for a spot that’s sometimes crowded, an early morning session with clean lines could be really special. That’s the session to aim for.

After that, it gets messy. The wind swings onshore or cross-shore for the next several days, and the swell drops or gets chopped up. Saturday the 12th sees some lumpy 4 ft NW swell, but that south-southwest wind at 12 mph will make it a bumpy ride. Not a great call.

We then hit a dry spell with small, weak swells and crummy wind until we get to Thursday afternoon, September 17th, and Friday morning, September 18th. Both of those windows are glassy again, but the swell is small, only 4 ft and 4 ft from the NW with an 8-second period. It’s clean, don’t get me wrong, and fun on a longboard or a log, but it’s not gonna be pumping.

Then there’s a big shift around Tuesday, September 22nd. The swell jumps up, 8 ft from the NNW, but the period is a short, jumbly 7 seconds. The combined energy is strong (704 to 1074). However, the forecast explicitly says the swell is predicted to be too big for this break, and the wind is cross-shore. This is a river mouth, and when it gets that big and short-period, it turns into a washing machine. This is not beginner territory, and even for experts, the setup looks more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer.

So, the one to circle on the calendar is Friday morning, September 11th for that glassy, clean session on a 6 ft NW swell. Everything else is either too small, too messy, or too big for this spot.

Stay patient, keep an eye on the wind, and get that Friday.

Rusty.

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