Vessel- Island Gypsy, Newport 400
Engine- Steyr 280 HP Diesel
Destination- Southport, Gold Coast to Cottage Point, Sydney
A fantastic perspective onboard an Island Gypsy 40 while it journeys down from the Gold Coast to Sydney. Read all about it from a happy new customer
A summary of the trip to Sydney
A great and enjoyable 5-day coastal passage from Southport to Cottage Point delivering the Island Gypsy Newport 400.
Like all journeys, planning is the key to success, be it making sure you have the correct spare parts, plenty of fuel and water, and most importantly tracking the weather. For our journey, we planned on only being on the water with a maximum of 2 mtr swells and 20kt winds. We used MetEye, Passage Weather and Sea Breeze to plan the journey.
For navigation, we relied upon the Garmin Chartplotter installed as well as SafeTrx from Marine Rescue and Marine Traffic (both free apps).
Day 1 – Our journey began at 4:30am from Southport heading to Yamba with an easterly swell of 1.5mtr and 10-15kts on wind from the SE. A great trip and achieved in 10:30 hours at an average speed of 11.5kts with the Steyr 280 burning 34lh @ 3400rpm
Day 2 – Today’s run was a short trip from Yamba to Coffs Harbour, first obstacle being crossing the bar at Yamba…it was a run out tide but relatively calm and the IG Newport 400 handled it well. Again, seas were 1.5 – 2mtrs from the east and the boat handled the conditions easily. The journey was 6.5 hrs at average speed of 12kts burning 36lph at 3400rpm. Whilst at the Coffs marina, we bumped into an excited expectant owner of a Newport 400 so gave him a tour and a summary of the boats performance…he’s even more excited now!
Day 3 – Another great run from Coffs to Port Macquarie with the weather being kind to us yet again. There has been not very much traffic on the water although we did have some dolphins as company. Journey time was around 6:45hrs.
Day 4 – A longer run from Port Macquarie to Port Stephens but again the boat handled the conditions without any problems. All systems running well and the Steyr engine continues to purr like a kitten. A bit more sea traffic and dolphins today but the welcome site of Broughton Island meant we were nearer to port.
Day 5 – The home run, exit Port Stephens Heads, turn right and set to 220’. The seas were up a bit today and much more sea traffic with the coal ships queued for Newcastle. Swell was up to 2.5mtrs and wind to 20+kts which made for a little bit of roll as swells passed under us. Again, the Newport 400 handled it well and we arrived safely at Cottage Point.
