Earlier, Jono completed two swims covering nearly 24km, lifting his total distance to 442km as the mission continued south.
Powerful Whangamatā Welcome Marks Biggest Swim4TheOcean Stopover to Date
By Live Ocean
03/02/2026
Read time: 3 min
Article Summary
Main Points
The day also saw a surge in public support, with signatures calling to end bottom trawling jumping from around 7,000 to more than 8,200 in just over a day.
Jono Ridler and the Swim4TheOcean team arrived into Whangamatā at 8:30pm on Monday evening (2 February) to a powerful welcome from the local community.
Local iwi Ngāti Pū welcomed Jono and then presented him with a taonga, carved from sperm whale, and the gathered crowd sang the waiata Te Aroha.
The endurance swim aims to ignite New Zealanders around the race for a healthy ocean and yesterday was a spike in signatures on the Swim4TheOcean call to end bottom trawling and the tally climb from around 7,000 to over 8,200 in around 36 hours – after online and on-the-ground engagement.
The show of support was the largest yet at a Swim4TheOcean stopover despite a time change to the advertised opportunity to meet Jono due to a change in the swim schedule and drizzly conditions in the beachside town. It was humbling for both Jono and the seven-strong team doing the long hours alongside him both on-water and onshore.
Live Ocean co-founder Blair Tuke was there on the boat ramp too; “All facets of the community were there on a grey, drizzly night to welcome Jono and the team in such a beautiful way. A true testimony to the power of this mission.”
Earlier, the Tairua community came out in force too, as Jono and the mission crew spent time ashore between swims there.
During the day Jono completed another two swims, clocked eight hours in the water, and covered close to 24km since starting at 6:56am. Current assist and breeze behind him meant better pace in the afternoon session.
Jono reported that his niggly wrist is improving, allowing him to swim without strapping or the closed-fist technique he had used the previous day.
The total distance swum climbed to 442km – the distance to go dropped to 945.5km. Total swim time is now more than 148 hours since he started on 5 January.
Another two-swim day is planned for Tuesday 3 January. Jono will leave from Whangamatā – rest ashore there again after the morning session then push down the coast towards Waihi Beach.
Total distance covered: 442km
Yesterday’s swims – at a glance
Swim 1
Started at 6:56am
Time: 3 hours 1 min
Distance: 7.4km
Average speed: 2.4km/h
Swim 2
Started at 2:59pm
Time: 4 hours 59 mins
Distance: 16.5km
Average speed: 3.3km/h
1,000 Miles. 90 Days.
A Swim For The Ocean.
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