High speeds, big waves, jumps and crashes. It's all in a day's racing for a Thundercat driver.
Mount Maunganui locals Mitch Black, 19, and Devan Carter, 29, are the leading contenders for the national finals on home surf next week after leading the club competition.
Black, the youngest racer on the national circuit, can't wait to hit the waves off his hometown beach.
"We're No1 in the club points so we're going to the nationals as the top boat at the moment.
"I sort of know how the waves break in the Mount and it's always fun racing in front of all your family and friends. That's good and there's always a good turnout, too.
"The [conditions at the] Mount are normally all right, it's normally small surf. But hopefully with the weather how it is, the waves might be bigger. It'll be good and there'll be some carnage," Black said.
The Mount Maunganui event on January 4 will be the second stage of the nationals, after Whangamata on January 3, and could prove to be a dramatic day of racing.
"Normally every time we race a boat flips, so there's always something going on. Last year at Whangamata a guy fell out and got hit by another boat. I think he broke two ribs and punctured a lung. Another guy broke an ankle.
"In the surf they go about 70-75km/h through the waves and we pretty much race in any conditions. I flipped it once, about two race meetings ago. I'd won every race and then I flipped it. That was the first time flipping and hopefully it doesn't happen again," Black said.
Black, a former Tauranga Boys' College student, has been racing for three years, since selling a jetski on Trade Me and being offered a Thundercat swap-deal instead of cash.
In the past three years the pair have wasted little time establishing themselves on the race circuit and are this season having their best year to date, co-pilot Carter said.
"So far we've been going really well, we're top of the club championship and we've got a new sponsor, Loaded, and with them we're hoping to do better.
"The last few years here [in Mount Maunganui] we haven't done too well so hopefully this year we'll improve," Carter said.
One spectator certain to enjoy the action is Mitch's proud dad Rowan, who loves getting down to watch the events.
"I've watched every race he's done. It's pretty spectacular, for sure.
"We are going to try and really fire it up. It's all about the locals, they come down but they don't realise you can take a deck chair and make a day of it. And it's free," Mr Black said.
Wednesday will see the duo compete in as many as six races if they make it to the final. Racing starts at 11am.