Black Foils Support Live Ocean to Supercharge Winter Dip

Live Ocean and the Black Foils are coming together to take Live Ocean’s annual winter dip to a new level. 

The Live Ocean Winter Dip is an annual initiative encouraging the public to take a refreshing winter dip in the moana to raise awareness and support for ocean health. With the operational support of the Black Foils SailGP Team, it’s hoped this year’s dip can be the biggest yet.

On Sunday 7 June, Live Ocean and the Black Foils are inviting the public to Auckland’s Takapuna Beach to celebrate the ocean and tautoko Jono Ridler’s epic Swim4TheOcean and show support for the call to end bottom trawling. The dip will be taking place between the flags, as the lifesaving team from Mairangi Bay SLSC will be there to keep all participants safe.

Ridler’s herculean effort saw him swim for 468 hours covering 1,367km over 90 days and the community is now being invited to join Ridler, Blair Tuke and other Black Foils athletes at Takapuna for a dip on the eve of World Ocean Day (June 8) to keep the spotlight on his message.

If people can’t make it to Takapuna they are encouraged to get in for a Live Ocean Winter Dip wherever they are on or around 8 June to show their support and share the message.

Over 70,000 people signed the petition delivered by Ridler and the Live Ocean team to parliament asking decision makers to commit to ending bottom trawling. 

Live Ocean Co-Founder and Black Foils Co-CEO Blair Tuke said “What Jono achieved was extraordinary and it was amazing to see how people responded to his mission and the call to end bottom trawling. We wanted to give people another chance to celebrate him and keep that message front and centre.”

Live Ocean Co-Founder and Black Foils Co-CEO Peter Burling said, “We know not everyone including myself can be there in person on the day, so we also encourage anyone who can to get in the water anywhere in the world around World Ocean Day to celebrate and share that message. I know me and my family will be.”

Ridler started his Swim4TheOcean from Waikuku Beach, North Cape on 5 January and successfully completed what is expected to be ratified as the longest, unassisted staged swim ever, swimming into Whairepo Lagoon, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington 90 days later on 4 April.

Bottom trawling is a commercial fishing practice that drags heavy nets across the seafloor, destroying habitats, biodiversity, and releasing stored carbon. Seamounts are underwater mountains and features that are highly vulnerable and slow to recover. 

The Swim4TheOcean petition was later read in Parliament on 29 April. During meetings with decision makers across the political spectrum, Ridler and Live Ocean outlined a three-stage ask:

1. To immediately stop the issuing of permits for New Zealand owned fishing boats to bottom trawl on seamounts in the South Pacific High Seas
2. to fully protect seamounts in New Zealand waters by the end of 2027
3. to support the industry to innovate and rapidly transition away from bottom trawling entirely.