Surfers, businesses benefit from tropical swell

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — With the tropics brewing, that often means surfers have their eyes locked on forecast. As two tropical systems spin offshore, surfers are hitting the water to catch some waves.

“Finally we get a little bit of a swell,” surfer Tristan Nelson said. “It was fun. I was out there the past couple of days. It’s been pretty big.”

Another surfer, Logan Gray, said, “Glad to have a little storm out here off the coast providing a little something to ride since the summer has been pretty flat.”

Southeastern North Carolina is not known for good surf year-round, but guys like Nelson and Gray are pretty excited about what they see now.

A tropical swell means surfers are headed to the beach and Wrightsville Beach was packed Monday.

“I just came out after school to catch some waves,” Gray said.

Surf City Surf Shop Manager Colin Peterson says this weekend was busy with families preparing for back to school and surfers gearing up for good surf.

“People are coming in looking for a maybe new board, wax, maybe rash shirts anything like that that involved surfing,” Peterson said.

But it’s not just surf shops that he says sees more sales because of big waves.

“Restaurants are going to be able to capture the people who say came in here to pick up a surfboard and want to go out and surf for a few hours, well Tower 7 will get those guys who want burritos and refuel before they get back in the water,” Peterson said.

With the swell forecasted to linger throughout the week, Peterson expects business to stay busy.

“Hopefully we have a safe and very fruitful hurricane season,” Peterson said.

He adds since we don’t often see big waves, swells like this one get more people excited about surfing and more people coming to the area.