LARGE swells expected to hit the coast today and tomorrow may not be as big as originally forecasted.

Far North Coast SLS area supervisor Ruben Roxburgh said lifeguards had been busy protecting beach-goers and that would certainly be the case again today.

"At the moment there's a possible south swell," he said.

"Over the weekend conditions are expected to rise and open beaches will be quite dangerous."

Originally swells were predicted to hit the 3m mark but Mr Roxburgh said it would be about the 2-2.5m mark.

"The cyclone sitting out to sea has changed the conditions and moved it further south," he said.

"People need to be careful especially on quite large and open beaches.

"If they're closed don't go swimming."

Throughout the New Year period a 15-year-old teenager had his life saved after he was dragged from the surf to safety at South Pottsville.

Sadly this wasn't the case for a 33-year-old man who was found floating in shallow water at North Kirra and although life savers performed CPR, they failed to resuscitate the father of two.

Beaches in the Tweed including Duranbah, Fingal, Kingscliff, Salt, Casuarina, Cabarita and North and South Pottsville are patrolled between 9am and 6pm by a team consisting of two lifeguards and a supervisor.