Amateur jet-ski racer Cline Glidden Jr. has blazed through the waters off the Hard Rock Hotel, in Daytona Beach, Florida, to win the P1 AquaX USA Amateur 300 Offshore Championships, held from 18-20 Aug.
The 26-year-old Caymanian standout topped the leaderboards with 37 points, besting 21 other competitors, including Eric Diaz, who took second, and Carlos Rios in third.
Glidden’s victory comes just 21 days after he won the P1 LaPorte AquaX AM 300 in Indiana. He told the Compass that winning back-to-back rounds propels him closer to an overall national title.
“Nothing compares to representing my Island,” he said. “Honestly, it’s a great feeling. It’s the craziest weather I’ve competed in… I ended up getting flung off.”
Despite the challenges through the three rounds, he had accumulated enough points to secure gold.
His busy schedule then takes Glidden to the St. Cloud AquaX AM 300 from 16-17 Sept. in Kissimmee, Florida, where he hopes to continue his recent success, saying, “I’m looking forward to doing the same thing in the next round.”
While noting how proud he feels representing his nation, he pointed out that jet-ski racing requires financial assistance.
“This is an expensive sport,” Glidden said. “We are looking for sponsors. It’s a dying sport here and I’m trying to show the government that it still has potential, and we’ll do our best to keep marketing the Cayman Islands as best as possible.”
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