Taft (Siltetz River) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's sift through what’s on the table for the Taft (Siltetz River) stretch over the next couple of weeks. Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – it’s not looking like a classic summer run for Taft. We’ve got a long, flat-ish spell with very little to get excited about. You’ll be looking at a lot of weak, wind-affected junk before any real glimmer of hope shows up on the horizon.

The water temp is sitting about normal for this time of year, so no surprises there.

For the first week or so, from Thursday the 13th right through to the 21st, it’s mostly grim. We’re seeing tiny swells, mostly in that 1ft to 4ft range, but the real killer is the wind. It’s coming from the NW and NNW, consistently cross-onshore, which is just going to chop up whatever small wave there is into messy, bumpy lines. The wave energy is weak, barely cracking the 200–300 mark (213 to 363), and the periods are all over the shop – short, choppy 7-second windswell one minute, then longer 14–16 second groundswell the next, but just not enough size to do anything with it. Most of these mornings and afternoons are marked as poor or marginal, and honestly, you’d be fighting a losing battle. Even the larger spells on the 19th and 20th, where we see 3ft to 5ft, won’t save you because the quality still isn't there.

However, if you’re patient and willing to wait, there’s a small glimmer at the very end of the run. On Friday morning the 28th of August, we’ve got a real surprise. It’s a “glass” condition – dead calm, no wind at all, just absolute peace. The swell is tiny, only 2ft from the SW with a decent 14-second period, but with those perfect glassy conditions, that little 2ft wave could actually be clean, fun, and ridable. The energy is moderate at 317 (in brackets), but with that long period and offshore glass, it’ll hold up better than anything before it. This is the standout window, hands down. It’s a river break, so the longer-period groundswell (over 11 seconds) can work nicely here, better than at a beach break, so you’ve got a little hope.

The rest of the second week, from the 22nd to the 27th, is a real drag. You’re looking at 1ft to 5ft of all sorts of windswell and weak leftover groundswell, all cross or cross-onshore, which will just be messy. The 23rd afternoon even shows a 5ft, 6-second blast of pure closeout slop – steer clear unless you’re kiting. Honestly, the setup for a lot of that period, with the poor quality and onshore wind, makes it look way more interesting for a kite surfer than a paddle surfer.

So, there you have it. Unless you can nail that glassy Friday morning on the 28th, you’re looking at a long stretch of no-go. The crowds here can be "sometimes" busy, so on that one good day, it might be a little social, but it’s a small price to pay for a clean wave.

Rusty.

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