Quarter Way Milestone Done As Jono Heads Into Night Time Swimming

Jono Ridler has passed the one quarter mark in his attempt to swim 100km across the Hauraki Gulf.

30kms in, with darkness approaching we’re reminded of the scale of Jono’s undertaking. While the rest of us are sleeping (or watching the tracker) Jono will swim. Continuously. Non-Stop. Through the night.

He’s guided by strip lighting on the support boat which travels alongside him throughout the night (and day) with a roster of feed and support crew close by, keeping watch. Sunrise on the Hauraki Gulf tomorrow on Wednesday 3 May is at 7:01am.

Currently Jono is swimming just to the west of Hauturu Little Barrier Island.

• NEW BRoll of Jono swimming today available here
• Interview with Mark Lenaarts, Lead Observer and Hamish Willcox, Swim4TheGulf Co-Skipper available here.

Hamish Willcox, accomplished sailing coach, provides an update on weather and sea state saying it’s been an extraordinary day; “We’ve seen less than 8 knots more or less all the way to Little Barrier. We’ve had some fog, we’ve had some mist, and we’ve had some quite positive surface drift with the swell and wind just moving Jono along quite nicely. At this point in the day, as its going towards dark, we’re hoping for a similar night.”

Mark Lenaarts, Lead Observer tells us about how Jono is experiencing some feeding issues; “He takes Perpetuem – that’s his good grunty food, and he’s just got some sore guts at the moment so its not agreeing with him too well. We’re working through with the team here just what are our options to try and get that settled.”

Messages of support from followers are flowing in across social media and the Live Ocean team are heartened that Jono’s effort has captured public attention.

The live tracker at www.Swim4TheGulf.org shows Jono’s progress on this epic mission which started from Aotea Great Barrier at 10am this morning.

The Swim4TheGulf route saw Jono depart from Karaka Bay, Aotea Great Barrier towards Hauturu Little Barrier, he’s now rounding the island before turning left and heading south towards the inner Hauraki Gulf.

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