Long before they arrived in Englewood Beach, Fla., last weekend for the final event in the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series, Bobby Adams and T.J. Rand of the Club Car Wash and Dirty Money Racing teams, MTI 390X catamaran owner and Fort Myers Offshore stalwart Mikey Boyle and veteran offshore Micheal Stancombe had something in common. They all love speed on the water.
Thundercat action isn’t difficult for fans to see up close. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Now, they have another thing in common. They all experienced Thundercat competition courtesy of Fuel-1 Racing and the American Thundercat Racing Federation last weekend during the annual Englewood Beach Waterfest affair.
A relatively simple 13-foot-long beast, a Thundercat rides on two inflatable sponsors and is powered by a 50-hp two-stroke outboard engine. Two-person Thundercat teams consist of a driver/throttleman and a co-pilot, who mostly serves as movable ballast when needed.
That the 200-pound boats race relatively near shore often means that breaking waves often are part of the fun. Races usually start from and end on the beach, which adds to the general stoke-level.
Short story? The often high-flying action comes really close to the fans.
Though Boyle isn’t (yet) an offshore racer, he’s an avid go-fast boating fan—enough so that he and his girlfriend, Brandie Hammer, came from Cape Coral to Englewood Beach in his 39-footer.
“It was really fun, but going into the weekend I definitely didn’t plan on being in a Thundercat especially after boating up from Cape Coral,” he said, then laughed. “After talking with a bunch of the teams at the street party Friday evening and then watching them do demo-races Saturday when everything else was canceled, I thought maybe this could be fun to do. After some cocktails at a few of Englewood’s great establishments Saturday evening, I made a deal with Martin from Yacht MGMT and that was that.
“I raced it three times Sunday,” he added, then laughed again. “And now I own a Thundercat.”
But while Boyle was in Englewood Beach for fun, Adams and Rand were—as key crew-members for two teams—there to work. Yet when the change for a Thundercat experienced emerged Saturday for the Club Car Wash and Dirty Money Racing duo, they seized it.
Rand took the “ballast-man” role.
“If you’re not moving around or going on the nose while taking a wave you’ll go over,” he explained. “I really enjoyed it. Everyone was extremely helpful and nice. I don’t think they thought we would do so well to be our first time though, but we actually ‘won’ one of the races.
“You get insanely close racing and it’s all-out war,” he added, then chuckled.
But thanks to their offshore racing team leader work intervened and they didn’t compete in the second exhibition on Saturday afternoon.
“Bill (Pyburn) wouldn’t let us,” Rand said, then laughed again. “We had to focus on the race boats for Sunday. He told us get it out of our system.”
The Thundercat experience was life-affirming for Stancombe (second from left).
The experience had greater significance for Stancombe, who ran under the alias of “Slingshot Harry”—a nickname bestowed on him by Turk Family Racing group. In May, the 59-year-old veteran throttleman suffered a massive heart attack. His recovery, much less getting back in a raceboat, was far from certain.
Yet there he was in a Thundercat last Sunday with a big grin smeared across his face.
“The racing from the surf line had me laughing—you may have been able to hear it from the beach,” Stancombe said. “Then my brain clicked on and the racing blood started flowing again. Thundercats are quick and agile and if you don’t laugh you may be dead.
“On a personal level, I needed it more than the entire town of Englewood,” he continued. “I had been thinking my racing career might be over after my heart attack. Thanks to Captain Mark from XINSURANCE, who I raced with, those thoughts are gone.”