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Most people don’t view the act of skipping a stone across the water as a particularly serious endeavor. However, there are plenty of enthusiasts who take great pride in their ability to do exactly that, and some of them ended up at the center of a scandal that led to multiple people being disqualified from the World Stone Skimming Championships.
There was once a time when humans were forced to get very creative when it came to dreaming up ways to entertain themselves, and scholars in both ancient Rome and ancient Greece chronicled the act of skipping stones and shells across a body of water to do exactly that.
If you’re like me, you associate that particular activity with the days when kids would cap off a long day of skipping stones by spending a dime to buy an ice cream sundae at a soda fountain, and while it’s become an increasingly lost art in a day and age where technology reigns supreme, there are some enthusiasts who are carrying the torch.
A few years ago, Outside published a fascinating profile of Kurt Steiner, who is essentially the Wayne Gretzky of competitive stone skipping (which is A Thing that very much exists); in 2013, the G.O.A.T. known as “The Mountain Man” set a world record with a rock that hopped across the water 88 times before sinking.
That piece also outlined the properties of an ideal stone, and some people who recently headed to Scotland for the World Stone Skimming Championships crossed the line in their quest for the perfect one.
Multiple people were disqualified from the World Stone Skimming Championships for illegally altering rocks
It’s been more than 40 years since Albert Baker organized a competition on Easdale, a Scottish island that’s part of the Inner Hebrides, that brought people together to showcase their stone-skipping prowess.
That inaugural showdown was held in 1983 before becoming an annual staple in 1997, and each year, hundreds of competitors around the world flock to Easdale in a quest for nothing but a trophy and bragging rights.
The rules are fairly simple. All of the rocks that are used must be “naturally formed Easdale slate stones” found on the island and need to be less than three inches across at their widest point. Each competitor in the individual competitions gets to attempt three throws (they must bounce at least two times to count), and the cumulative distance (not overall skips) is used to determine their final standing.
This year, Jonathan Jennings of the United States took home the top crown with a trio of tosses that added up to 177 meters. However, according to the BBC, what is usually a fairly straightforward affair was tarnished by a tampering scandal that proves nothing is sacred.
The outlet spoke with Dr. Kyle Mathews, who said judges at the event were made aware of “rumours and murmurings of some nefarious deeds” before taking a closer look at some rocks that were deemed “suspiciously circular.” Stones must be able to pass through a three-inch metal ring to be deemed eligible, and it became clear that some contestants had engaged in “a little bit of stone doctoring” to ensure they fit while optimizing their shape for maximal skippage.
Mathews said the offending parties willingly confessed after being given the chance to come clean, and the event subsequently continued without any other major incidents.