With more than 30,000 supporters behind him and over 1,080km completed, the mission continues its determined run toward Wellington.
Cold Water and Jellyfish Stings in Another Huge Day for Swim4TheOcean
By Live Ocean
17 March '26
Read time: 3 min
Article Summary
Main Points
Cold water and mounting fatigue marked a tough day on 16 March, as Jono completed two long swims totalling nearly 26km along the coast past Waimārama to Pourerere.
Now facing temperatures as low as 16°C, the physical toll is increasing even as he pushes through back-to-back long days.
The cold is setting in as Swim4TheOcean pushes south, with Jono now spending long hours in water temperatures as low as 16°C. That is around seven degrees colder than what he was swimming in a month ago, and the toll is starting to show.
On Monday 16 March, Jono completed two four-and-a-half-hour swims tracking down the coast from Waimārama, past Kairakau, coming ashore at Pourerere, where he was met by a warm welcome from locals.
It was another huge day in the water. After a massive effort the day before, he backed it up with another near-identical push, finishing just shy of 26km for the day. Across two days, Jono has now logged around 53km of ocean swimming.
The effort comes after Jono set himself the ambitious goal of reaching Wellington by Easter – an ambitious target that remains possible, if conditions allow.
During the first swim of the day, Ben Goffin reported in from the IRB; “We are just over two hours in and about halfway through the first swim for today. Jono’s swimming really well. We made great progress yesterday and we’re making great progress today.
“The waves have picked up a little bit. We started off in nice calm water and we’re quite lucky the wind and current haven’t come up too much – just a bit more swell as we get closer to the coast. The water is a bit brisk. Jono definitely noticed the difference between 17 and 16 degrees this morning.
“And we can’t see them, but he says there are jellyfish tentacles hanging around near the surface that he’s swum through a few times now. Not ideal. They’re not attached to the bodies of the jellyfish, so Jono’s essentially swimming blind into these long strings of stingy things.”
Late in the day, Andy Tuke said Jono had dug deep again; “Jono has had an amazing day. He came out yesterday morning and said he wanted to get to Wellington by Easter, and he’s done amazingly well. He did about 27km yesterday and he’s done 25.4km now – he’ll be at 26km by the time we finish this swim. Fifty-three kilometres in two days is amazing.
“He’s felt the cold today. He’s not talking much because he’s pretty cold.”
Visibly chilled on the transit ashore to Pourerere, Jono looked completely spent at the end of the day and ready for rest.
With the settled weather continuing, another two-swim day is planned for Tuesday.
Public support for the mission is also continuing to build, with more than 30,000 people now having signed the Swim4TheOcean call for action, calling for a move away from destructive bottom trawling.
Follow Jono’s progress on the live tracker and sign the call for action at Swim4TheOcean.
Total distance covered: 1081.36km
Swim at a glance – 16 March
Swim 1
Time: 4 hours 39 mins
Distance: 13.11km
Average speed: 2.9km/h
Swim 2
Time: 4 hours 29 mins
Distance: 12.81km
Average speed: 2.9km/h
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