Jono Ridler begins 1,000-mile Swim4TheOcean from North Cape

World-record attempt aims to unite New Zealanders and push for an end to bottom trawling.

Today, Jono Ridler, in collaboration with marine conservation charity Live Ocean, began his Swim4TheOcean campaign, a 1,000-mile world-record attempt for the longest unassisted staged swim, aimed at uniting New Zealanders around the race for a healthy ocean. 

Entering the water at 12:55pm from Waikuku, North Cape, the 36-year-old will attempt to swim the entire east coast of the North Island, carrying a clear message to decision makers in Wellington: it’s time to end bottom trawling. 

A live tracker on Swim4TheOcean.org allows the public to follow the swim in real time, showing Ridler’s location, pace, progress and the conditions he’s facing while swimming.  He’ll swim long rotating shifts, working with the tide, over roughly 90 days. 

Ridler was farewelled at Waikuku by mana whenua, Ngāti Kuri representatives, who gathered to acknowledge the start of his 1,000-mile swim attempt.  

Ridler’s mum and dad were there for the send-off, as well as Blair Tuke, co-founder of Live Ocean. 

For the first few days he’ll swim during daylight hours, before transitioning to day-and-night swimming. Today he swam for just over three hours and completed 9.2km.  

Weather and sea conditions on day one tested Ridler and the support team with a 15-knot easterly breeze, swell of around 1.5 metres and some surface chop to contend with.

Throughout the mission, tide and ocean currents will be key factor – today at North Cape it was running across Ridler’s southbound route and not significantly impacting his progress.  

“There’ll be ups, there’ll be downs, there’ll be challenges, there’ll be euphoria. It really will be a crazy adventure for the next 90 days. I feel nervous and excited at the same time – I’m keen to get going, to stop thinking and to start doing,” Ridler said before setting out.

“It comes back to why we’re doing this… it’s about igniting New Zealanders around the race for a healthy ocean. If you’d like to support this, put your name to the call to end bottom trawling on swim4theocean.org. You can also leave a message for me that will help to power me through when things get tough.”  

Blair Tuke, co-founder, Live Ocean was there for the send-off; “Here we are at Waikuku Beach, the northernmost beach of the east coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, less than ten or 15 minutes before Jono jumps into the water and starts his epic mission south.”

“A huge moment to be here, there’s an incredible journey ahead of Jono, and he’s taking such a powerful message with him – for the end of bottom trawling. I really hope that New Zealanders get behind him and wish him well and join that journey with us.”

Ridler and Live Ocean are asking people to show they support the call for New Zealand to end bottom trawling by adding their name to the call for action at Swim4TheOcean.org. 

Just getting to the start line was a logistical feat in itself. On-water support craft, including the Swim4TheOcean StabiX and IRB, launched south of Waikuku and motored north, while the shore-based team travelled by vehicle as far as possible, transferring to side-by-side buggies for the final few kilometres.  

The term ‘unassisted’ is significant in Ridler’s world-record attempt. Defined by the Marathon Swimmers Federation, it means he’ll swim without a wetsuit – wearing only togs, goggles and a swim cap. 

At the conclusion of each swim leg, Ridler will either walk ashore or be transferred by support boat to the closest land access point, where he’ll eat and sleep before heading back out. Each exit and re-entry point are logged by the GPS and that becomes the starting point for his next swim. Weather and sea conditions are expected to force rest days at times.