(Raleigh, NC-AP) July 19, 2006 - Tropical Storm Beryl headed north Wednesday, with the worst of its rain and wind remaining several miles off the North Carolina coast.

"We got a light wind, a little cloudy," said Howard Rall, the manager of the Avalon Fishing Pier in Kill Devil Hills on the state's Outer Banks. "We've had worse northeasters."

Coastal storm warnings and the threat of the second tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season did little to deter either the natives or the tourists: Golfers hit the links, boats headed out to sea, and early morning fishermen were trying their luck at Rall's pier.

"It's pretty good fishing: Blues, Spanish, some spot and mullet," Rall said.

At 8am EDT, Beryl was centered about 105 miles east of Cape Hatteras. It was moving north at 7 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45mph, just over the 39mph threshold for a named storm and well below hurricane strength of 74mph.

The National Hurricane Center expected to discontinue a tropical storm watch from Cape Lookout to the Currituck Beach Light by afternoon.

Beryl could strengthening somewhat over the next 24 hours but isn't likely to grow into a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm appeared likely to move parallel to the East Coast instead of heading ashore, said Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

"There will be some increase in wind and surf," he said. "But we're not seeing this to be a major event."

Last year's June-November Atlantic hurricane season saw a record 28 named storms and 15 hurricanes, including destructive Katrina.

The first named storm of 2006 season, Tropical Storm Alberto, splashed ashore in Florida in mid-June, then plowed northward along the coast past North Carolina's Outer Banks. It was blamed for one drowning .

Updated 8:42am by Bryce Mursch