20km Day Before Hawke’s Bay Stretch – Bring In The Mothership

The team woke on a remote stretch of farmland at the far eastern tip of the Māhia Peninsula before heading back out on the water for a single swim on Saturday 7 March.

Current predictions shaped the plan for the day. Instead of the usual morning and afternoon sessions, Jono completed one six-hour swim starting just before 2pm.

Conditions were favourable through the first half of the swim as the team threaded their way between Portland Island and the mainland at Māhia. Later in the afternoon the sea state began to build and the current shifted crossing Jono’s line of travel, slowing his progress as the evening wore on.

Even so, Jono completed the full six hours and logged close to 20km for the day.

Midway through the swim, support crew member Ben Goffin reported steady progress.

“We’ve just ticked over three hours – we’re cruising along nicely and making good kilometres. There’s a strong tail wind helping push us across the bay.”

With half an hour left in the swim, On-Water Operations Lead Andy Tuke confirmed the team remained on track.

“We’re five and a half hours in and Jono has done 18.3km, so we should finish over 19km which is pretty awesome. The current helped us for the first two thirds, but it’s now pushing left to right which has slowed things up a bit and created some confused seas.”

After finishing for the day Jono said; “We had a really nice run between Portland Island and the mainland and picked up some good current through there. I had my friend Olaf join me for three of the six hours which was thoroughly enjoyable.”

As the swim wrapped up, rougher conditions made for a long transit back to shelter.

“We’re heading back to an anchorage in the conditions we’ve got now, so it’s going to be quite a long trip in. That was the story of the day really – the second half of the swim got a bit messy.”

With the Māhia Peninsula now behind them, the mission enters one of the more challenging sections of the route.

The next stage will take Jono and the crew across the wide-open stretch of Hawke’s Bay toward Te Kauwae-a-Māui / Cape Kidnappers. At times they will be up to 40km from the nearest point of land, with safe access points for the support boats even further away.

To tackle this section, the team is introducing a new logistics approach.

Rather than returning to connect with the caravan and land operations team between swim legs, the crew plan to spend the coming days at sea using a larger support vessel – effectively a “mothership” – allowing Jono to rest between swims without the long transit back to land.

Jono explained, “We’re starting a different logistical setup to cross Hawke’s Bay. Instead of having water-based and land-based operations, we’ll stay at sea for the whole stretch – probably about three days. The reason is to reduce transit time. At points that could be up to 40 kilometres, and that eats into things like sleep and recovery.”

“The big unknown is what it will feel like sleeping on the boat while we’re out there. I can go without showers or comforts for a few days. That’s not important. The key thing is sleep. That’s what could make or break this model.”

The next community stopover has now also been confirmed, with Napier locals preparing to welcome Jono and the Swim4TheOcean crew:

Tuesday 10 March | 3:30–5:30pm
Perfume Point, Te Karaka Reserve, Napier

According to the PredictWind live tracker, Jono has now covered 960.5km. Based on the projected route distance of 1,387.53km, approximately 427km remain to Wellington.

Follow Jono’s progress on the live tracker and sign the call for action at Swim4TheOcean

Total distance covered: 960.5km
Projected distance to go: 427km

Swim at a glance – 7 March

Swim 1
Time: 6 hours
Distance: 19.73km
Average speed: 3.3km/h