Circumnavigations: Holy Island (Anglesey)
There are a number of 'Holy Islands' dotted around the country - this one (Ynys Gybi) is linked to the Isle of Anglesey. While Anglesey is a popular paddling destination itself, the Holy Island cicumnav condenses the best of Anglesey into a one day adventure. This popular trip involves a wide range of the sea paddling spectrum: tideraces and overfalls, sheer cliffs, caves and coves, along with inland paddling and sandy beaches. Tidal planning is crucial here as there are two tidal sluices through the embankments to negotiate - at Stanley and Four Mile Bridge.
BEWARE: To negotiate Stanley Embankment correct tidal timing is ESSENTIAL - this sluice is LETHALLY DANGEROUS at certain points of the tide.
Please send your GPS track file, in .gpx or .tcx format.
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Holy Island
Route Distance: ~18 nm / 33 km
Prevailing direction:
CCWSolo
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6 solo paddlers.
CW = clockwise, CCW = counter-clockwise
Teams
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Posn. | Cat | Paddler | Elapsed | Date | Boat | Dir | Note | Verified | Link1 |
---|
1 | Team | Pascale Eichenmuller John Willacy | 03:29:57 | 26-Aug-19 | Rockpool Taran 18 Rockpool Taran
| CCW | | Yes | |
2 | Team | Pascale Eichenmuller John Willacy | 03:50:54 | 07-May-21 | Rockpool Taran 18 Rockpool Taran 16
| CCW | | Yes | |
3 | Team | Nick Cunliffe Kamala Sen | 04:50:06 | 10-Sep-15 | Valley Avocet Valley Nordkapp LV
| | | -- | |
4 | Team | Pete Evans Steve Miles | 05:00:00 | 12-Feb-13 | SKUK Explorer Rockpool GT
| CCW | | Yes | |
5 | Team | Bryan Dickinson Jenny Wong | 05:03:52 | 10-Jul-21 | Rockpool Taran 18 Rockpool Taran 16
| CCW | | Yes | |
6 | Team | Steve Miles ? ? | 06:51:42 | 11-Apr-21 |
| CCW | | Yes | |
7 | Team | Steve Ahearne John Willacy | 07:05:00 | 15-Sep-07 | Rockpool Alaw Bach P+H Quest
| CCW | | -- | |
14 team paddlers in 7 teams
Notes
David Attenborough : (04-Dec-13)
David set the standard for a Holy Island Circumnav. He had a 13 min wait at Stanley Embankment for the flow to ease off enough for a safe passage through. From David:" I learnt a lot on this trip, which means I should be able to beat my time in the future. The reasons I believe this record could be beaten: As I said I had to stop for 13 minutes at Stanley Embankment to wait for the speed on water to slow so I could paddle up it; I was paddling with a force 4-5 NW wind that slowed my progress on my Northward and Westward legs of the trip and made the seas north of Holyhead 'Interesting' and those around North Stack 'Very Interesting' (and Exhausting!); This trip was done on a spring tide (Liverpool 9.9m)"
Pete Evans / Steve Miles et al. (12-Feb-13)
From Steve: "We had to wait on Stanley for half an hour and could not resist ten minutes playing on the South Stack wave,it was just perfect. And, 10 mins out of my boat at Penryn Mawr, which wasn't running (but don't ask)."
Holy Island
13 completions -- 6 solo + 7 team + 0 escorted
20 paddlers in total (6 solo / 14 team / 0 escorted
Route Distance: ~18 nm / 33 km
Prevailing direction:
CCWRecorded Start Points:
- Borthwen (4)
- Cymyran (3)
- Holyhead (1)
- Penrhos (1)
- Porth Dafarch (3)
- Treaddur Bay (1)