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.

Holy Island

Route Distance: ~18 nm / 33 km
Prevailing direction: CCW

Solo

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Posn.	K1W	Cat	Paddler	Elapsed	Date	Boat	Verified	Note	Link1	Dir
1		K1M	John Willacy	02:55:45	13-Jun-14	Rockpool Taran	Yes			CCW
2		K1M	John Willacy	03:03:20	14-Jul-21	Rockpool Taran	Yes			CCW
3		K1M	John Willacy	03:18:37	22-Jul-21	Rockpool Taran	Yes			CW
4		K1M	Richard Griffiths Hughes	03:53:33	22-Jul-21	Rockpool Taran	Yes			CCW
5		K1M	David Attenborough	04:18:39	04-Dec-13	P+H Quest	Yes			CCW
6		K1M	John Willacy	04:28:00	21-Nov-05	Nelo Inuk	Yes			CCW

6 solo paddlers.
CW = clockwise, CCW = counter-clockwise

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Teams

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Posn.	Cat	Paddler	Elapsed	Date	Boat	Verified	Note	Link1	Dir
1	Team	Pascale Eichenmuller John Willacy	03:29:57	26-Aug-19	Rockpool Taran Rockpool Taran	Yes			CCW
2	Team	Pascale Eichenmuller John Willacy	03:50:54	07-May-21	Rockpool Taran Rockpool Taran 16	Yes			CCW
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	Yes			CCW
5	Team	Bryan Dickinson Jenny Wong	05:03:52	10-Jul-21	Rockpool Taran Rockpool Taran 16	Yes			CCW
6	Team	Steve Miles ? ?	06:51:42	11-Apr-21		Yes			CCW
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

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Comments

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)"

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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)."

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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: CCW
Recorded Start Points:

• Borthwen (4)
• Cymyran (3)
• Holyhead (1)
• Penrhos (1)
• Porth Dafarch (3)
• Treaddur Bay (1)




Submit a time here.

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