While you’ll find most 10-year-olds in Malibu out on the soccer field on Saturday mornings, don’t look for Jordan Janov. This 10-year-old is out on the water sailing and racing his very own boat.
In fact, the fifth-grader is doing quite well racing — he just won his age group (eight-10) in White Fleet and came in fifth overall in the Pacific Coast Championship Regatta of nearly 60 boats skippered by kids up to age 15. The regatta was held last month in Ventura and qualifies him for an even more prestigious race.
Janov practices sailing at least three days a week after attending school at Webster Elementary. As a member of the California Yacht Club, Janov comes from a family of sailors and has been sailing since he was four years old, competing since he was only six. His older brothers, Ryan, 16, and Grant, 13, attend Malibu High and Malibu Middle schools, respectively. The older brothers have been sailing for a few more years and have been doing great in competition as well.
The youngest Janov skippers what is referred to as an Optimist dinghy. It’s small, at only eight feet long. Janov named it Chabrah, as in “yeah, bro,” in homage to his older brothers.
“I got into sailing by watching my dad and brothers who all sail,” Janov explained. “I said, ‘I want to do that.’ So I would hop in my brothers’ boats when they were practicing. That got me into sailing by going with them. Then I just kept with that.”
At under five feet tall, Janov isn’t even tall enough to ride some roller coasters, yet this youngster is out on the water, alone for hours at a time skippering his own boat. With choppy conditions and sailing one-half mile off coast, it’s not always “smooth sailing.”
He said he’s capsized “too many times to count.” While in the water he must right the sailboat by pulling on the center board and using his weight (all 80 pounds) to climb back aboard. Then he has to bail all the water out of the hull. That takes a lot of work and costs precious minutes during races.
“First, it’s really cool, but then you just get used to it. Usually when I’m out on the water, I’m thinking of balancing the next shift in the wind or where’s more breeze or how to start properly and stuff like that,” Janov explained. “I’m just racing.”
“There’s a lot of sea life out there. There’ve been dolphins that come really close to me,” Janov said. “It kind of freaks me out. They’re giant and they’re really quick. I’ve been in the middle of a pod before. There’ve been sharks too. There was a big one.” When asked if he was afraid, Janov replied, “They’re scared of us.”
And just as astronauts are asked about how they go to the bathroom in space, when asked what he does when nature calls, Janov matter-of-factly explained about jumping off the side, holding on and “hoping for the best.”
The Janov family — that also includes dad, Jay, and mom, Heather — also has its own boat called Minor Threat, since three minor children are part of the crew. The Janovs have raced the 22-foot long boat, a J-70, along with two pros aboard.
In another boat he races with his brother Ryan, called a CFJ; special accommodations were made for the young sailor.
“The cool thing about this boat,” Heather Janov described, “is that the coach built a special step for Jordan to be able to reach the parts of the boat that he otherwise couldn’t because you’re supposed to be of high school age. And he’s just 10. So he’s short.”
Heather added that her sons are “having a great time sailing together.”
Jordon qualified for a Thanksgiving Day regatta in New Orleans and the Janovs will race at Christmas in Florida for what’s called the “Orange Bowl.”
Since the youngest Janov won his age category in last month’s regatta in Ventura, he qualified for team trials in a big 300 kid regatta in Brandt Beach, New Jersey in May. The family is looking forward to that event as well as more Junior Olympics events that all three Janov boys have already sailed in.
