Pistol River Surf Forecast
South Oregon Coast, OR · Far-south Oregon sandbars below Cape Sebastian - wild and empty.
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Pistol River Spot Guide
Best swell
Ideal size
Best wind
The wave
Local knowledge
Pistol River is the far south coast at its wildest — a rivermouth spilling sand into miles of empty beach beneath Cape Sebastian. The river keeps rebuilding the bars, and when a clean west groundswell meets them at the right size, the peaks get genuinely good. The place is world-famous for wind (it hosts windsurfing's marquee wave event), which tells you the catch: calm mornings are the window, and they don't last.
The southern Oregon coast rewards effort and punishes casualness in equal measure. Surf it small and clean the first few times, watch the drift constantly, and treat every session like the remote-wilderness outing it actually is.
Live cams
Nearby spots
- Bandon 57 mi · South Oregon Coast
FAQ
What swell direction works best at Pistol River?
WSW swell hits Pistol River straight on. The spot picks up anything arriving from S (190°) through NW (325°); swell from outside that window is blocked by the coastline.
What wind is best at Pistol River?
ENE wind blows offshore and grooms the surf. WSW wind is straight onshore and chops it up; light wind under ~5 kn is fine from any direction.
When is the best time of year to surf Pistol River?
Fall through winter (October-March), when North Pacific storms send consistent NW groundswell. Early fall usually has the best swell-to-conditions ratio; summer is the small season.
What's the best tide at Pistol River?
Mid incoming. Tide predictions for the spot's NOAA station are in the forecast above.
Is Pistol River good for beginners?
Experienced surfers — remote, powerful, and unpatrolled.
How warm is the water at Pistol River?
Roughly 47°F at its late-winter coldest to about 58°F in late summer. In practice that means a hooded 4/3 or 5/4 in winter and a 3/2 in summer. The forecast above shows the current water temperature.
How far out is this forecast reliable?
The wave model has real skill to about 10 days, and we cut the chart there instead of padding it with guesses. Days 1-3 are solid, 4-7 useful, 8-10 a trend heads-up - and we publish our measured error against NOAA buoys, updated continuously.
Forecast from TrueSwell's own physics-based wave model (exposure → refraction → breaking, every swell train separately), built on public NOAA and Open-Meteo data and scored daily against NDBC buoy observations. How the model works →