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Key Figures · Racer and rider

Randy Laine

Listed third in the Super Jump at Jet Jam '97 in a magazine's report; read from the name, the same rider is a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee and shown in the association's 2006 and 2014 news items in big surf.

At a glance

Role
Racer and rider
On the record
3 years, from 1997 to 2014
Disciplines
Freeride
Titles on the record
none read off a held results document yet
In the archive
1 history chapter
  1. The early years, in print, 1981 to 1993
  2. The makers and their machines, 1985 to 2005 (this page's records)
  3. Noise, safety and federal rules, 1996 to 2002
  4. The rule book years, 2002 to 2018 (this page's records)
  5. Three rule books, 2021 to 2026

The eras this page's records fall in are drawn solid; the others are hollow.

How we know: Each bar runs the years printed on that era's panel, and which eras a page falls in is the archive's grouping of its records, not the length of anyone's career.

Years 1997 to 2014, one box each A single row of boxes, solid for a year printed above a fact and hollow for a year printed above none. 1997 20002010 2014
  • a year printed above a fact on this page
  • a year printed above no fact

Printed above the facts, 1997, 2005 and 2014. Printed above none, 1998 to 2004 and 2006 to 2013. 3 facts have no year printed above them and mark no box.

Every year from the first to the last year printed above a fact on this page, one box a year.

How we know: the year printed above each fact below; an honour carries no activity year, so it marks no box.

Riding and racing, 1997 to 2014 Two labelled rows of boxes on one scale of years, riding above and racing below; a box is solid where a year is printed above a fact in that row, or in a title row for racing, and hollow where none is. Riding outside a race Racing, results and titles 1997 20002010 2014
  • a year printed above a fact in that row, or a title year in the racing row
  • a year printed above no fact in that row

Riding outside a race, 2005 and 2014. Racing, results and titles, 1997. 2 riding facts have no year printed above them and are not drawn.

The same range of years in two rows, riding outside a race above and racing below.

How we know: the year printed above each riding fact, and above each results fact and in each title row.

  • Confirmed 1

  • Likely 5

  • Contested 0

The grade word on each fact on this page, counted. It grades how firmly the documents tie each fact to this person, not the person.

How we know: the word printed above each fact below, counted on this page only.

Results

1997 · Likely

Personal Watercraft Illustrated's report of Jet Jam '97, held at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim on 15 to 17 August 1997, which the magazine calls the first closed-course races sanctioned by the International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) to include a ramp jump, says Randy Laine qualified for the Yamaha Super Jump's final jump-off with a jump of 78 feet 6 inches and came off his SuperJet at the last second of his final jump, and lists "3. Randy Laine (Yam)" in the Super Jump results. It is a magazine's report, not a result sheet. That the jumper is the big-wave rider of the association's news items is the archive's reading, from the name and the Yamaha SuperJet both describe, an inference.

Sources: PWI December 1997 Jet Jam '97 report

Riding outside a race

Likely

An IJSBA news item dated 1 November 2006 says he sent the association a photograph from Todos Santos Island in Baja, Mexico, and that he was tackling the big waves on a stock Yamaha Superjet. The item does not date the ride.

Sources: IJSBA news Laine in Baja 2006

2014 · Likely

An IJSBA news item dated 26 August 2014 calls him an IJSBA Hall of Fame inductee and says he sends the association reports on the surf to expect at the Blowsion Surf Slam. It says that this year, in a post dated 2014, he went out on a large south swell heading for the West Coast, and that the association received a photograph of him in action. It is the one held document that calls this rider a Hall of Fame inductee.

Sources: IJSBA news Laine in the surf 2014

2005 · Likely

Surfline's report of a Cortes Bank session, dated 10 March 2005 in its web address, calls a Randy Laine a PWC driver and quotes a remark of his aboard the boat as a naval exercise was announced. In an interview AllAboutSurf posted on 24 July 2005 he says that at Cortes Bank he is hired to drive someone else, a camera operator or a tow surfer, that he contracts himself out, naming a Mavericks event of that year and trips to Todos and Cortes, and that he was out at Cortes Bank on 19 January 2001. The interview is his own account. Neither piece names the association; that this is the rider of its news items is the archive's reading, from the name and the big-wave riding.

Sources: Surfline Cashing In 2005; AllAboutSurf Laine feature 2005

Likely

Personal Watercraft Illustrated's travel piece in its April 2001 issue says that on his most recent Hawaii trip, from December 14 through January 2, Randy Laine mainly rode his SuperJet off the North Shore of Oahu and spent five days on his Yamaha SUV towing the surfer Kelly Slater into big waves at Avalanche, a break about a mile off the coast. The piece prints no year for the trip; read against the issue it is the winter of 2000 to 2001, the archive's reading. That he is the rider of the association's news items is the archive's reading too, from the name, the SuperJet and the big-wave riding.

Sources: PWI April 2001 Oahu travel piece

Recognition

Confirmed

The association's hall of fame page lists Randy Laine among its 2008 inductees, and its announcement of 11 June 2008 names him among the ten inductees to be recognised at the third annual ceremony, set for 11 October 2008 at the London Bridge Resort. Neither document gives a reason for any induction. The association's news item of 2014, below, reports his surf riding and names him a Hall of Fame inductee, which ties the roster's name to this rider.

Sources: IJSBA hall of fame page; IJSBA 2008 hall of fame announcement; IJSBA news Laine in the surf 2014

Elsewhere in the archive

What the archive has not read (5)

  • The interview feature's introduction says he set a world record for the biggest wave ridden on a Yamaha Super Jet, estimated at 72 feet, and he says himself that he has ridden Cortes at 65 to 70 feet. The 72 feet is the feature writer's estimate and the 65 to 70 his own, no body that keeps records is named, and no Guinness page is held (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-16), so no record is stated here.
  • No held result sheet names him: the IJSBA World Finals sheets and the European and Estonian sheets name no Randy Laine, and a 2001 House hearing names a Laine with a different given name. His one placing on this page, at Jet Jam '97, is from a magazine's report, not a result sheet. A watercraft magazine's contents pages of 2008 and 2009 credit a Randy Laine as a writer; a byline is neither a result nor a ride and is not used (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-16).
  • The association's announcement gives no reason for any induction, and none is held for his (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-16). A reason given for it elsewhere has no held document under it and is not used.
  • The January 2001 Cortes Bank day is his own account of 2005. The magazine's April 2001 travel piece names him at Cortes Bank and calls him the first person to ride a personal watercraft there, but it gives no date for that ride and no body that keeps records is named, so neither the day nor the first is stated here. A news item of the same magazine dated 14 January 2004 says he and another rider recently rode there and calls them the first freeriders to surf the break; it gives no day either. No held document of 2001 dates a Cortes Bank ride for him (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).
  • The 2006 news item prints November 1st, 2006, but its page also carries a machine timestamp of 18 December 2012, so the printed date may have been set at a later edit.

Documents cited on this page

  • IJSBA news Laine in the surf 2014 (ijsba.com): Hall Of Famer Randy Laine Still Rides The Surf (IJSBA news item, 26 August 2014), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2014-08-26; sanctioning body, medium. The association's own news post, dated August 26th, 2014. It calls its subject an IJSBA Hall of Fame inductee, says he sends the association reports on the surf to expect at the Blowsion Surf Slam, and says that year he went out on a large south swell and sent a photograph. The archive keeps an extract of the post. Medium for the association's own sentences; a photograph passed on to it is not a result, a roster or a rule.
  • PWI December 1997 Jet Jam '97 report (web.archive.org): Racing: Jet Jam '97, Anaheim, California, The Joint Was Jumping, by Keith Bush (Personal Watercraft Illustrated, December 1997 issue, online archive page, Wayback capture of 15 January 1998), Personal Watercraft Illustrated (watercraft.com), 1997-12; enthusiast media, medium. A magazine's race report of Jet Jam '97 at the Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, on 15 to 17 August 1997, which it calls the first IJSBA-sanctioned closed-course races to include a ramp jump, with top-five results by class and the make each rider used. A magazine's report, not a result sheet: medium. The held copy keeps the opening, the freestyle and Super Jump passages and the dual slalom, freestyle and Super Jump results; nothing else from the report is held.
  • IJSBA news Laine in Baja 2006 (ijsba.com): Randy Laine meets big waves in Baja (IJSBA news item, 1 November 2006), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2006-11-01; sanctioning body, medium. The association's own news post of a photograph its subject sent from Todos Santos Island in Baja, Mexico, taken, the post says, on a stock Yamaha Superjet. The post prints its date, November 1st, 2006, gives no date for the ride, and adds a line of praise that this archive does not repeat. Medium for what the post says; the photograph reached the association second hand, and the post is not a result, a roster or a rule.
  • Surfline Cashing In 2005 (web.archive.org): Cashing In, by Marcus Sanders (Surfline, surfnews, 10 March 2005; Wayback capture of 6 January 2007), Surfline, 2005-03-10; editorial, medium. A surf-news reporter's account of a day at Cortes Bank, about 100 miles off the coast, with tow teams working from personal watercraft. The text prints no year; the date comes from the page address (2005_03_10) and the day names inside it (the swell reached Jaws on Monday the 7th, the boat left for Cortes on Wednesday morning). It names one person as a PWC driver in a single line. Medium: an independent publisher's report, one mention.
  • AllAboutSurf Laine feature 2005 (web.archive.org): Randy Laine - 70 Feet and Holding, by Ken McKnight (AllAboutSurf, 24 July 2005), pages 2 and 3 (Wayback captures), AllAboutSurf, 2005-07-24; enthusiast media, low. A surf website's interview feature, with photographs and video credited to its subject. It is the earliest held text for the wave of January 2001 at Cortes Bank: the subject says in interview that he was there on 19 January 2001, and the article says he set a record for the biggest wave ridden on a Yamaha SuperJet, estimated at 72 feet. Low because the figure is the subject's own account, written four years later, and no body that keeps records is named.
  • PWI April 2001 Oahu travel piece (web.archive.org): Travel: Oahu, Hawaii, Winter Vacation, by Jeff Hain (Personal Watercraft Illustrated, April 2001 issue, online page, Wayback capture of 4 June 2001), Personal Watercraft Illustrated (watercraft.com), 2001-04; enthusiast media, medium. The magazine's account of Randy Laine's most recent Hawaii trip, from December 14 through January 2, riding his SuperJet off the North Shore of Oahu and towing Kelly Slater at Avalanche on his Yamaha SUV. The page prints no year for the trip. Medium for the magazine's account; its "first person to ever ride" Cortes Bank and its wave sizes are claims no body that keeps records confirms, and are not used. The held text is a partial copy of the article.
  • IJSBA hall of fame page (ijsba.com): The Jacobsen-Stjernstrom IJSBA Hall of Fame (IJSBA page), International Jet Sports Boating Association; sanctioning body, high. The association's own roster, read on 22 September 2026, giving the hall's name, its creation and dedication in 2006, and inductees by year to 2014, names only. It publishes no selection criteria and no citation for anyone.
  • IJSBA 2008 hall of fame announcement (web.archive.org): IJSBA Announces 2008 Hall of Fame inductees (ijsba.com, 11 June 2008, Wayback capture), International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2008-06-11; sanctioning body, high. The association's announcement of its ten 2008 inductees and a Lifetime Achievement award, with the ceremony set for 11 October 2008 at the London Bridge Resort. It gives no reason for any induction. The association's telephone number is removed from the held copy.

Changes to this page

  • 2026-10-19: Randy Laine's page now takes its naming from the IJSBA's 2014 item on his surf riding, which also links him to his 2008 hall induction.
  • 2026-10-18: Randy Laine's page now lists him as a racer as well as a rider, from his third place in the Super Jump at Jet Jam '97 in Personal Watercraft Illustrated's report, adds the magazine's April 2001 account of his Oahu trip, and corrects two gaps those pieces answer.
Cite this page

“Randy Laine”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/randy-laine/

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0 titles on the record · 6 sourced facts · 8 documents

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