It doesn’t matter how long it takes, we’re going to keep going until we get there

An earlier start on Friday saw Jono hit the water just after 6am, spending five hours swimming before midday. He knocked off more than 13km in his first swim of the day.  

The pre-dawn departure from Marsden Cove meant the team enjoyed a stunning sunrise and epic scenes as they tracked past Whangārei Heads. 

At dawn, on-water lead Andy Tuke said: “Beautiful day here this morning. The sea swell has dropped down, we’ve only got 8 or 9 knots of breeze and we’re expecting not much more than that for all of the morning session.” 

The Whangārei Heads had haunted Jono’s swim on Thursday. Using it as a visual guide to hold his course, the tough conditions meant it felt like he wasn’t making progress towards it. 

Getting past the significant geographical landmark on Friday provided a mental boost after the tough slog of adverse current, residual ocean swell and a building westerly breeze the day before. Tuke said: “Way better than yesterday — yesterday was pretty tough.” 

Rest and recuperation before the next swim leg took place at Langs Beach, where a crowd of supporters welcomed Jono and showed their support for the Swim4TheOcean mission and the call to end bottom trawling. 

Despite the good progress of the morning swim, Jono and the crew were still under pressure. Strong westerly winds forecast meant they needed to push hard in the second swim of the day towards Bream Tail and the coastline. Being closer to land, and in the relative shelter it provides, would make the difference between being able to swim the next two days — or not. 

Just before diving in at 6pm, Jono said: “We’ve got an evening swim. Today’s goal is to get to Bream Tail, which is about nine and a half kilometres away — and it doesn’t matter how long it takes, we’re going to keep going until we get there. Because tomorrow is about 25 knots and full-blown westerly, it’s going to be bad conditions out in the open, so we’re going to get in there and be sheltered along the coastline.” 

By 9:30pm the job was done. With another 9.1km under his belt in swim two, Jono and the crew were pleased to come ashore knowing they had set themselves up well to minimise the swell and surface chop that negatively impacts his progress. He hit the water again just after 6am.  

Go Jono! 

Total distance now covered: 256.8km  

Yesterday’s swims – at a glance 

Swim1 started at 6:15am  

Time: 4 hours 59 mins 
Distance: 13.3km 
Average speed: 2.7km/h 

Swim2 started at 6:01pm 

Time: 3 hours 30 mins 
Distance: 9.1km 
Average speed: 2.6km.h