Jonas covers His first stage to Croatia by bicycle

Jonas Deichmann started the Triathlon 360 Degree in Munich on September 26th. His plan is to circumnavigate the earth in the 3 triathlon disciplines and without accompaniment. The journey will take about 12-14 months and he will swim 456 kilometers, run 5040 kilometers and cycle 21600 km, the distance of 120 Ironman.

Jonas covered the first stage to Croatia by bicycle, carrying his own luggage as usual. At the start 70- 80 people appeared and despite pouring rain about 30 cyclists accompanied Jonas on the first kilometers. Soon we crossed the first alpine passes in adverse conditions, where the first snow was already on the ground.

After 6 days, Jonas arrived in Kalobag, Croatia, accompanied by the documentary filmmaker and former cycling professional Markus Weinberg, where he changed his cycling clothes for a wetsuit. In the following weeks, Jonas will swim along the Adriatic coast southwards to Dubrovnic. During this trip he will pull his luggage behind him in a specially made raft. In the first week the infrastructure along the coast is not sufficient to supply Jonas with enough calories, so he pulls a second waterproof raft with food behind him for this section.

Already on the second day in the water the wind from the south freshened up so strongly that Jonas could not make any progress and had to take a 2-day forced break on land. When the weather had calmed down enough to think about swimming further, Jonas had to make do with the missing infrastructure, because for several days Jonas found neither opportunities to stock up on water and food, nor dry, wind-protected sleeping places. For reasons of space, Jonas does not carry a tent with him during the swim.

When crossing the open water over to the island of Pag and other islands, navigation turns out to be a problem. Jonas navigates with his cell phone, which he cannot use during the swim. Spits of land are hard to spot, because there are usually other islands behind them and so just above the surface of the water it is difficult to make out. Again and again the wind blows towards Jonas from the south and high waves make swimming impossible on some days.

On the 13th day Jonas reached the city of Zadar and from here the supply situation became so good that Jonas could do without the additional raft. From Biograd, where Jonas accepted an invitation at friends, the weather changed. It finally became warmer and the wind blew constantly from the north – tail wind. Jonas made good progress, soon passed the channel at Tisno and then took the 5 km wide passage over to the island of Zlarin, where he was expected in a bay. His father and Markus Weinberg accompanied Jonas for a few days with a sailing yacht to take some film shots.

Shortly before Trogir, Jonas broke the previous world record for the longest unaccompanied swim, which the British Sean Conway held over 200 kilometers.

After another tricky crossing, Jonas reached Split, where a storm had caused him again and then, the next day, another milestone: Jonas has completed half of the 456 kilometre swim. Jonas is expected to arrive in Dubrovnic around November 22.