Earlier this month, over 2,200 people traveled from 27 countries to the car-free island of Easdale off Scotland’s western coast for the annual World Stone Skimming Competition. Held nearly every year 1983, the contest invites participants to test their skills in the “world’s first dedicated stone skimming arena,” a slate quarry that flooded in 1881. The World Stone Skimming Competition rules are clear: contestants must use unaltered stones selected from among the island’s naturally occurring slate. The physics of stone skimmingWhat separates a champion skimming stone from a plunker largely comes down to physics. He more than met his goal during his second visit to the World Stone Skimming Championship.