BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Surfer Tommy Orsini was the only one News 6 saw braving the water Thursday as rough surf advisories and rip current warnings were expected to continue into the weekend.
“I feel like I got in a fight a grizzly bear,” an exhausted Orsini said after catching just two waves at the Cocoa Beach Pier.
With red flags flying at lifeguard towers, Capt. Nathaniel Stadnik with Brevard County Ocean Rescue advised people not to go swimming and maybe not for a few days.
He shared his advice for beachgoers.
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“As soon as you come to the beach, talk to lifeguards about the water conditions (and whether) it’s safe to go in,” Stadnik said. “Take a look at the flag conditions, as we have on the back of this tower.”
Patsy Swain from Virginia heard about how old buried treasure tends to wash up here after a storm.
Thursday, she mostly found just Portuguese man-o-wars, but under the pier, Bryce Dolph worked to removed a large cylinder that washed up which he said belongs to the Navy and weighed about a ton.
As a salvage master, he said he’s picked up weather buoys and boats from storms before.
The National Weather Service said the wind was strong enough to capsize boats, but apparently, it was still no match for Orsini the surfer.
“Sick dude, there’ll be more,” he said about going surfing again.
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