As momentum builds both on the water and with public support, the final stretch toward Cape Palliser and Cook Strait is now within reach.
30km Day and 2,000 Signatures
By Live Ocean
25 March '26
Read time: 3 min
Article Summary
Main Points
With water temperatures dropping below 15°C and recovery time tightening, every kilometre is a hard-earned push through increasingly tough conditions.
Jono Ridler has delivered his biggest day of the Swim4TheOcean mission so far… banking more than 30km in a single day as he pushes down the exposed lower Wairarapa coastline.
It was the biggest day of signatures yet, with more than 2,000 added as momentum builds towards the 50,000 target and beyond. With Jono still in the water, there’s still time to add your name.
Now just 129km from Pōneke, Wellington, the finish is coming into view, with an earliest possible arrival of Wednesday, 1 April. Weather and sea conditions will ultimately dictate the final approach, with Jono yet to round Cape Palliser and enter Cook Strait – a notorious stretch of water.
Starting just before 8am (on Tuesday, 24 March), Jono spent four hours in the water in his opening swim, covering 13.23km. After a short turnaround of around 2.5 hours, he was back in not long after 2:30pm, swimming through until 7pm and adding close to 17km, helped by a slight current and tailwind.
It’s a huge day on paper, but every kilometre is being earned the hard way.
There’s a clear shift in intensity. With the finish now within reach, Ridler is swimming hard and has made good ground, helped by current and tail winds.
Water temperatures have dropped below 15°C, and Jono (swimming without a wetsuit) is spending long hours fully exposed, managing the constant risk of hypothermia. At these temperatures, there’s no room to ease off.
At the same time, recovery between swims is being squeezed tighter and tighter.
Asked how he felt heading back in: “Pretty good. Good enough to keep going. That’s the main thing.”
On-water lead Andy Tuke says the window to make progress is narrowing.
“Tomorrow looks similar, but by Thursday the breeze picks up and the swell starts to build. Friday’s looking like a big 3-metre-plus swell, so likely no swimming at all.”
“We’ll look to get something in early Thursday before it builds… it’s all about finding the windows and making the most of them.”
Follow Jono’s progress on the live tracker and add your signature to the call to end bottom trawling at Swim4TheOcean.
Projected distance to go: 129.46km
Total distance covered: 1,235.86km
Swims at a glance – 24 March
Swim 1
Time: 4 hours
Distance: 13.23km
Average speed: 3.3km/h
Swim 2
Time: 4 hours 21 mins
Distance: 16.89km
Average speed: 3.9km/h
Join The Call To End Bottom Trawling
New Zealand is still bottom trawling seamounts in our own waters, and the only nation still bottom trawling seamounts in the South Pacific high seas.
It’s time to stop being an outlier and protect the ocean’s most vital habitats.
We’re calling on the New Zealand Government to end bottom trawling on all seamounts – at home and in the high seas by the end of 2027 – and to activate a quick transition away from bottom trawling entirely.
We are a nation of innovators and ocean people.
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For the ocean. For our future.
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86,881 others calling for an end to bottom trawling!
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