LiveOcean – Jono Ridler
Jono Ridler has rounded Cape Palliser, the southernmost point of the North Island, and is now swimming into Te Moana-o-Raukawa Cook Strait, one of the most challenging stretches of water in the world, with just 57.7km of his 1,350km Swim4TheOcean remaining.
Yesterday’s (Monday, 30 March) swim was originally set to begin at 8am, despite an adverse current, but the barbed wire jellyfish were so thick the team made the call to delay and restart at 10am after reassessing conditions.
In the end, Jono put in a single 7 hour 19 minute stint – the longest of the mission yet – to safely swim around the lower tip of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island, where powerful currents and unpredictable swells converge. After being southbound for nearly three months, just after 5pm yesterday (Monday, 30 March), he was swimming into Te Moana-o-Raukawa Cook Strait with Mātakitaki-a-Kupe Cape Palliser lighthouse on his right.
“We were going to see how it went, and I just kept going and going. By the end of it, it was about 7.5 hours of continuous swimming — our longest swim to date. We rounded Cape Palliser, as far south as we’ll go on this swim, which was a very cool milestone” says Ridler.
It marks one of the most demanding milestones of the journey so far and means he’s just days from completing what’s expected to be ratified as a world-record unassisted staged swim.
Blair Tuke, Live Ocean Co-Founder was there for what was the last significant cape rounding of the swim at the southernmost point of the mission.
“The swim yesterday to pass around Cape Palliser really epitomised what this mission’s been about – Jono’s effort, and logistical complexities for the operations team. It’s an incredibly rugged stretch of coast, but beautiful at the same time.”
During yesterday’s swim, another major milestone was reached: 50,000 signatures on the call to end bottom trawling.
Commenting on the momentum in signatures on the Swim4TheOcean call for action, Blair said, “A big moment to push through 50,000. That is a significant number of people who to want an end to bottom trawling and sends a clear message to our decision makers that New Zealand’s want to change.”
“Now let’s see how far we can go with it. Jono’s effort has been superhuman, so let’s match that.”
Jono is now swimming north towards Wellington, with 57.7km remaining in his Swim4TheOcean mission.
He is anticipated to arrive in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington later this week, with the team working through final approach plans that will be influenced by wind, sea state and current in the coming days. A southerly is predicted today, bringing strong wind and big swells.
The intention is for Jono to swim into Whairepo Lagoon, central Wellington where he will complete the unprecedented journey that began at Waikuku Beach, North Cape, almost three months ago on 5 January.
From there, Jono will walk to Parliament to deliver the Swim4TheOcean call directly to decision makers — a message backed by a growing wave of public support to end bottom trawling. More than 51,000 people have now signed the call for action.
Follow Jono’s progress on the live tracker and add your name to the call to end bottom trawling at Swim4TheOcean.
Projected distance to go: 57.69km
Total distance covered: 1308.67km
Swim at a glance – 30 March
Swim 1
Time: 7 hours 19 mins
Distance: 19.20km
Average speed: 2.60km/
