In May 2024 I began an attempt to windsurf round Japan. The voyage started going northward from Chiba, on the Pacific Ocean coast. The objective is that the journey eventually becomes a circumnavigation of the four main islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. The journey is ongoing.
Follow the Japan journey! Read updates and check progress on the Japan voyage website.
Between 2017 and 2019 I windsurfed the coastline of Europe, a voyage that set a Guinness Record for the World's Longest Windsurf Journey. The full track of the journey is here.
Read the book! In The Balance on Amazon.co.uk
In 2015 I become the first person to solo windsurf round Britain. The full track of the journey is here, and there are lots of photos on Flickr.
Read the book! Long Standing Ambition on Amazon.co.uk.
Amazon Storyteller finalist Jono Dunnett embarks upon the World’s Longest Windsurf
"This “round Europe” sailing adventure begins deep within the Arctic Circle. Jono navigates through wilderness and carries his supplies in a watertight barrel. Many boundaries of the Seas of the Atlantic Ocean are crossed, and these provide structure to the narrative as the journey tacks towards Asia. What started as an expedition becomes a voyage, and two years later it has become an odyssey."
I hope you like this one. If I have achieved anything in life to be proud of, this book is it!
Spanish version of Long Standing Ambition, published in 2023.
"Si tu vida se viene abajo, ¿te hundirás o saldrás a flote?
Jono Dunnett tocó fondo y decidió lanzarse a navegar por aguas tormentosas para perseguir su sueño de dar la vuelta a Gran Bretaña haciendo windsurf. Según su propia estimación era una ambición insensata, y pronto se convirtió en una emocionante aventura..."
Finalist for the Amazon Storyteller award
If your life unravelled would you sink or swim?
Jono Dunnett hit rock bottom. Then he launched into stormy waters to follow his dream - by his own estimation a foolish ambition – to windsurf round Britain.
This powerful account charts the highs and lows of risking all, and the consequences of doing so.
Also available as an audiobook.
Jonathan Dunnett almost became a psychologist, was for a long time a windsurfing instructor, was briefly a telephone pole replacement co-ordinator, and spent a good few years lost - during which time he nearly became an electrician. He now adventures, and writes. He funds his modest needs by working on websites. At the time of writing he was working on a mental health programme that encourages walking and talking. He is better at the former.
He was born in London in 1974 and progressed through school, university and adult life - failing, like many of us, to find his niche. He struggled, but was good at hiding that.
He'd long wanted to windsurf around Britain, and had hidden that too.
Jono had a "rough patch" and probably ended up depressed. Life was failed relationships, career nothingness, inability to find pleasure in anything, lack of enthusiasm for any of the standard pathways that life seemed to offer. "You can get drugs for that" people told him "Go see a doctor!"
Instead he windsurfed round Britain and at last learned to be comfortable in his own skin. He'd cast off his worries about not particularly fitting in, which of course made him fit in better. There were other changes too.
For the first time in his life he had something to say, a story to tell. He started writing. More insights followed, including the realization that he'd rather pointlessly spent most of his life grappling with social anxiety.
The next jump was easier to decide upon: he headed to Norway to start a windsurf round Europe.
Since then, other journeys have included:
Please send a message.