Hurricane Larry stirs up swell for Wrightsville Beach surfers

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Hurricane Larry isn’t forecasted to make landfall in the United States, but coastal North Carolina is still feeling its impacts and surfers are taking advantage.

Around lunchtime on Wednesday, a dozen or more surfers were floating just past the Oceanic Pier on the south end of Wrightsville Beach waiting for the perfect wave.

Sam Oliva has been surfing for more than 12 years now. Originally from New Jersey, Oliva is a junior at UNCW. He says he wanted to head south for the warmer waters. He was excited to come out and be in the water today, even though the surf wasn’t as good as he expected.

“It’s supposed to get better the next two days so this is just a little glimpse of it. Hopefully, it stops closing out so much because you can’t really get a good ride if you’re getting slammed on the beach the whole time,” Oliva said.

The rip current risk is high throughout the rest of the week, so if you are getting in the water be extra cautious. Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue began slowly removing resources on Labor Day, but there is a skeleton crew monitoring the beaches through October.