THUNDER ON COCOA BEACH
🏁 Thunder on Cocoa Beach – Race Recap
📍 Cocoa Beach, FL
📅 2026 Race #3
🏁 Class: Pro Class 1
🔢 Finish: 7th
Cocoa Beach gave us a little bit of everything this weekend.
We rolled in Thursday and got the pits set up, then spent Friday getting everything dialed in before heading to downtown Cocoa Beach for the boat parade and block party. It was awesome getting to see the fans, hang out, and feel the energy around the event before racing kicked off.
Saturday morning started bright and early with testing, and unfortunately, so did the headaches. We went out and broke a prop almost immediately, which snowballed into a long list of issues and caused us to miss the rest of testing.
With testing behind us, our focus shifted to qualifying. We got the boat back out, but the vibration from the broken prop had done enough damage that we lost steering after a hose let loose. Back to the pits we went.
The crew got everything cleaned up and turned around, and from there, the focus shifted to Race 1. With conditions getting worse, the race was cut down to 5 laps.
All of the frustration, late hours, and setbacks became worth it when we took the lead on lap 3 and brought home a first-place finish in some of the roughest conditions we’ve seen.
Unfortunately, that high was short-lived.
After getting back to the pits, IHRA informed us that the new props overnighted from Mercury were out of spec, by roughly the equivalent of five pieces of printer paper. Frustrating would be an understatement.
Sunday was a new day and another chance to prove ourselves. Conditions were no better, and once again, the race was cut to 5 laps. On the first lap, the XINSURANCE North boat went over, bringing the race to an immediate stop.
We ultimately ended the weekend disqualified due to the prop issue and a rulebook situation that somehow left just about everyone with more questions than answers.
Not the ending we wanted, and definitely not the weekend result we felt we earned, but that’s racing.
The Outta Pocket crew never quit. From broken props, steering issues, rough water, late nights, and everything in between, this team kept fighting and showed exactly what we’re capable of when the green flag drops.
We’ll take the lessons, the frustration, and the fire from Cocoa Beach and carry it into the next one.
