Swim4TheOcean: - Day 3: Ridler passes the 40km mark
by Swim4TheOcean 7 Jan 00:12 PST
Support boat -Jono Ridler - Day 4 - Swim4TheOcean - January 8, 2026 © Joshua Mccormack
Jono Ridler is out of the blocks and getting ready to ramp it up after three days, and 40.7kms logged in his Swim4TheOcean.
Attempting to power himself stroke by stroke from North Cape all the way to Wellington, the ultra-distance swimmer, who has partnered with Live Ocean to call for an end to bottom-trawling, entered the water at Waikuku Beach at North Cape on Monday 5 January.
Despite encountering some jellyfish, yesterday’s conditions were the most favourable so far. Ridler started swimming at 1:50pm from his last GPS marked point, transferring ashore around 8pm after clocking up a 19km, six-hour swim shift. He enjoyed an easing swell, and light northerly breeze that dropped off to glassy calm as the afternoon wore on.
Ridler said it was a varied day, starting with a couple of hours of cross swell, describing that as, “kind of like running uphill while somebody’s throwing buckets of salt water into your face.”
“And then the wind started to die down, and it was really nice for the last three hours or so, which has been perfect – managed to make some good ground. Happy with today,” he said on his transfer back to land.
Tracking across Great Exhibition Bay and bee-lining towards Karikari Peninsula, Ridler is still easing into the monumental endurance attempt at the longest unassisted staged swim ever, with daytime swimming only, and a rest day due. Soon he’ll take it up a gear though.
Reflecting on the initial two days of Swim4TheOcean Jono said; “Day one was pretty, tricky – we only managed about three hours out including revisiting the contents of my stomach about a dozen times. Yesterday was more stable and I managed to get some runs on the board in a little bit of adverse current.”
Each day, swim targets are based on conditions and remain flexible. Ridler and his support team are getting familiar with how the local tide cycles and ocean currents impact his progress, and take that into consideration alongside wind, swell and surface chop to help determine optimal times for swim legs to start and end.
Initially kicking off the mission with one daytime swim leg each day, Ridler is preparing to go up a gear and will take on two swim legs per day soon – as conditions allow.
“Just trying to keep the momentum going until we can get some favourable behind current which we’re expecting a few days from now. We’ll be moving to double swim days very soon, which of course means day and night swims, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Based at Rarawa campground since travelling to the far north, the mission team are on the move from there and expect to spend each of the coming two to three nights in a new location – each time minimising the time it takes between Jono exiting the water and being able to eat and sleep.
About Swim4TheOcean
Ridler is best known for his 33-hour nonstop, 99 km swim from Aotea Great Barrier to Auckland in 2023 - the longest swim ever completed in New Zealand. This time, the 36-year-old Aucklander is attempting to go further than anyone has before in an unassisted staged swim, using his epic effort to shine a light on ocean health.
Ridler is partnering with Live Ocean, the marine conservation charity founded by champion sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. As Ridler pushes south, he will carry a clear message to decision makers: it’s time for New Zealand to make a quick transition away from bottom trawling, with the first priority being an end to bottom trawling on seamounts and other vital marine ecosystems.
More than 120 rest stops (between swim shifts), and six community stopovers are planned along the route, giving coastal towns the chance to welcome Ridler ashore and show their support for a healthy ocean.
Swim4TheOcean is backed by Platinum sponsor TMNZ alongside supporting swim sponsors including APL, Forsyth Barr, Generate KiwiSaver, and StabiX
Follow the mission at Swim4TheOcean.org and on Live Ocean’s channels @itsliveocean.
View at www.Swim4TheOcean.org
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Website: liveocean.org/swim4theocean Follow Jono's progress on the live tracker.
The Swim4TheOcean project is heavily reliant on PredictWind for forecasting of both weather and currents as well as data transmission on progress using a PredictWind Datahub.
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