Two-Swim Day Banks Progress Ahead of East Cape

A full eight hours in the water today as Jono returned to a two-swim schedule after a couple of one-swim days dictated by current. The Swim4TheOcean team continues to track across the eastern Bay of Plenty, ending the day’s effort and dropping the GPS pin just beyond Tōrere. 

As Jono and the support crew push into new, more challenging territory, they’re asking supporters to show their backing by signing the call to end bottom trawling and spreading the word. The number of signatures on the Swim4TheOcean call continues to climb, now above 12,500. 

Departing base camp at the Ōpōtiki Surf Club, Jono started his first swim just after 7am and was in for four and a half hours. Once again, the current was ‘all over the show’, but conditions were calm and worth making the most of, with wind forecast to build later in the day. 

“This morning, we just did 4½ hours. Conditions were really good – it was glassy for most of that. Didn’t have the best current conditions unfortunately, so it was pushing against. Progress was very slow. I don’t know exactly how far we went, but I think it was close to 10k in 4½ hours which is slow work,” said Jono. 

“But we’ve set ourselves up for later on – there is some wind coming through which we could fight against this afternoon, but good to make some progress this morning.” 

After a rest break ashore, Jono was back in the water from 4.30-8pm, knocking out three and a half hours in more testing conditions. 

Andy Tuke reported from the boat: “We’ve got 16-17 knots of breeze from the north, and current that is the complete opposite of what the forecast said so it’s standing the waves up.” 

Jono pushed through with swimming mate Glyn alongside him as support swimmer for stints, in accordance with marathon swimming rules for this world-record attempt for the longest unassisted staged swim. 

Jono is now closing in on the halfway point of this monumental, purpose-led challenge – but the next phase brings increasing complexity. The approach to and rounding of East Cape will present significant logistical challenges, with remote stretches of coastline where bays are very exposed to the elements and often only ‘landable’ in the right weather conditions. 

Friday, 13 February is a scheduled rest day for Jono and the support team.  

Total distance covered: 640.30km 

Yesterday’s swim — at a glance 

Swim 1

Time: 4 hours 30 minutes 
Distance: 10.8km 
Average speed: 2.4km/h 

Swim 2

Time: 3 hours 30 minutes 
Distance: 8.45km 
Average speed: 2.4km/h