Longest distance traveled on a personal watercraft in a 24-hour period-world record set by Mike Pagliccia

 NAPLES, FL, USA -- Mike Pagliccia , 44, traveled 624 miles aboard his Sea-Doo GTI 130 between 7 a.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday, ending in Naples and settign the new world record for the   Longest distance traveled on a personal watercraft in a 24-hour period .
Photo: Mike Pagliccia of Naples broke the World Record for longest distance traveled on a jet ski in a 24-hour period at 624 miles and raised an estimated $5000 for the YMCA of Naples. Pagliccia rode a Seadoo GTI 130 provided by Florida Motor Sports. Jennifer Whitney/ Naples News ( enlarge photo )

 “It was rough,” Pagliccia said as he struggled to pull off his black wet suit at Naples Pier on Saturday morning. “We had a little snafu near Tarpon Springs when a plastic water bottle got sucked into the intake, but luckily I met a nice Canadian man on the beach who helped us tilt the jet ski over, take it apart and get the water bottle out.”

Pagliccia said the ‘snafu’ cost him nearly two hours – a veritable lifetime when you’re attempting to break a record with a 24-hour time limit. To make up for lost time, Pagliccia and his team devised a plan to take advantage of calmer waters near Knapp’s Point, a bend on Sanibel Island.

Mike Pagliccia 's new record break Croatian Davor Hundic ’s previous record of 604.6 miles, but it wasn’t easy.

  Pagliccia said there were times along his journey that his mind began playing tricks on him. “It was totally dark at night, and I couldn’t see a thing,” he said.

   “At one point, I thought I saw a body listing in the waves, but it turned out to be a buoy. I started seeing things, especially when the moonlight reflected off the waves. I couldn’t see the waves until I was already on them, and there were a few times that I almost lost it and wiped out.”

   Pagliccia said he did a lot of core training in preparation for his world-record attempt – most of it at the Naples YMCA, which will be the beneficiary of the $5,000 he raised.

   Pagliccia’s mother was on hand to welcome her son home Saturday morning.

  “Am I proud of him?” Carol Pagliccia asked. “Yes. Do I like this stuff? No. Was I up all night? Yes.” Her advice to mothers of up-and-coming daredevils? “You’ve just got to let them go,” she said.

 Report by John Osborne / Courtesy Naples News    

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Monday, November 10, 2008

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