The Whitestone Bank is a

sand bank In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

approximately

east East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

of The Point of Ayre,

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. The Whitestone Channel separates the island from the bank.

Description

The bank is denoted on maritime chart AC 2094

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of C ...

to the

Mull of Galloway The Mull of Galloway ( gd, Maol nan Gall, ; ) is the southernmost point of Scotland. It is situated in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, at the end of the Rhins of Galloway peninsula. The Mull has one of the last remaining sections of natur ...

& Isle of Man; AC 1826 Irish Sea Eastern Part; AC 2696 Ramsey Harbour; SC 5613.21.1 Isle of Man East Coast. Ramsey ; Imray C62 Irish Sea; Imray Y70 Isle of Man (Harbour Plan of Ramsey). The currents around the

Point of Ayre The Point of Ayre ( gv, Kione ny Hayrey)''Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Volume Three. Sheading of Ayre: (Kirk Andreas, Kirk Bride and Kirk Christ Lezayre)'' page 258 ''Kirk Bride'' by George Broderick – Turbingen ...

have, over the millennia formed a series banks stretching out to the east which, it is advised, should be avoided especially in heavy weather when the seas break over them. There is also a problem in that chart depths on the west coast to the southwest of the

are based on Victorian lead line surveys and are no longer accurate, there being reports of depths as much as 2 meters less than that expected. For mariners approaching

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...

from the north, it is suggested that the best course of action is to come in north of the Strunakill Bank then tight to the

. This allows the mariner to slip inside the Whitestone Bank, through the Whitestone Channel. Alternatively, if coming up from Peel, it is advisable to stand off Rue Point (southwest of Ayre) and then shape a course to pass between the

Strunakill Bank The Stunakill Bank is a shoal approximately west of The Point of Ayre, Isle of Man. The bank is denoted on maritime chart AC 2094 (at position ) Kirkcudbright to the Mull of Galloway & Isle of Man; AC 1826 Irish Sea Eastern Part; AC 2696 Ramse ...

and the Point. Going outside the Whitestone Bank to the east of the

involves committing the

mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

to an unnecessarily long passage around

the Bahama Bank The Bahama Bank is a sand bank across Ramsey Bay, about off the east coast of the Isle of Man northeast of Maughold Head. Description The bank extends from Northwest to Southeast, is 10 miles long and 1 mile broad. In the late 1840s the Baha ...

. Other notable sandbars and banks in the area are the

Ballacash Bank The Ballacash Bank is a sand bank Northeast of the Point of Ayre, Isle of Man. The currents around the Point of Ayre have, over the millennia formed a series banks stretching out to the east which, it is advised, should be avoided especially in ...

, the King William Bank, the

and the

Bahama Bank The Bahama Bank is a sand bank across Ramsey Bay, about off the east coast of the Isle of Man northeast of Maughold Head. Description The bank extends from Northwest to Southeast, is 10 miles long and 1 mile broad. In the late 1840s the Baha ...

References

{{Authority control Shoals of the Isle of Man Landforms of the Irish Sea