Last year Australian waterman Jackson Coffey completed the trip of a lifetime, surfing and fishing his way from Tweed Heads to Broome aboard a 6.6-metre boat with his dad.
The father-and-son duo clocked 16,000 kilometers, lived onboard for half a year and torched through $33,000 in fuel – all in the name of chasing waves, fish and lifelong memories. Along the way, Jackson documented the whole thing for his YouTube channel Coffey Break, which has now amassed over 63,000 subscribers.
Jackson has now condensed 35 episodes from the journey into a two hour movie titled ‘Staying Afloat’.
From surfing the Great Barrier Reef to fishing in remote Indigenous zones and cruising under the Morning Glory clouds, Jackson and his father lived the kind of adventure most only dream about.
“I wouldn’t say I have one single favourite part because there have been that many special moments. That whole stretch along the Kimberley was super special and I feel like I still haven’t had time to take that all in. I can’t wait to sit down and rewatch the footage from that,” said Jackson.
“When we were in Karumba we met up with Matt from Pelagic Pursuit. He’s someone in fishing who I’ve followed and looked up to for a long time. I’ve ticked off a lot of species of fish in my time but a goal for me this trip was to catch a one meter barra and with his help I ended up getting a one metre 28 barra – that was a life goal ticked off for me.”
Throughout his time as a surfer and fisherman Jackson has had the opportunity to go on a number of wild adventures, but he said nothing quite compares to the six months he spent on that boat.
“I could never have imagined the way this trip would turn out. This wasn’t something we’d planned for years. Me and dad just came up with the idea, got a fuel tank and everything done to make it possible and off we went. The stars aligned from the beginning and I could never have foreseen the opportunities that came our way during the trip. The amount of people who messaged us, got in contact and offered to take us on these different adventures, took us fishing in some of the most amazing locations. We shared so many moments with people who started off as strangers to us and now they’re friends for life.”
Hit the link above to check out the full movie.
