As reported in the most excellent book, The Race, by Tim Zimmerman (required reading if you like racing cats!) Grant Dalton's team on Club Med won The Race. Team Adventure (Randy's ride) didn't have much time for shake down and training, it was the last of the 3 big Ollier cats built by the French yard Multiplast, to hit the water, just weeks before the start of The Race.

After Cam Lewis and Randy pushed it very hard for many miles, the front beam started to delaminate near where it attached to the hull, as in: split apart, because of the intense, sustained water pressure being applied while crashing along at 40 knots for days on end.

One crew member was seriously injured when they stuffed and came to a screaching halt, nearly flipping the boat. That's what caused a couple other crew to abandon ship when they pulled in for repairs. Randy and Cam did complete the race short of crew, after repairs, but didn't finish well, although they did have one of the fastest 24 hour time splits in the fleet prior to the delaminations.

Is Randy the "Best in the World"? Well, he's won an America's Cup on a cat, The Worrell more than once, the Alter Cup several times, the Volvo Extreme, the Corsair Nataionals many times, and so many other catamaran racing titles you can't list them all.

Who has consistantlly beaten him, I can't think of anyone, but I don't know everyone, especially the Aussies and New Zealanders, and then there are the French, who love to set records on big cats and tri's.

Here's the best part. When you see him at a regatta, he will answer all your questions and even come over and look at your boat, give you some tips on how to set it up. What other sport can a weekender get some quality time with the best, for free?? What other top guys, in any sport, will give a putz the time of day, especially if you are competeing against them?