Hundreds gather on Easdale for world stone skimming contest

Hundreds of people have gathered on a tiny island in the hope of being crowned World Stone Skimming Champion.

The competition taking place on Easdale, one of Argyll’s Slate Islands, was first held in 1983.

A maximum entry of 350 people are due to compete this year, and the available places were booked out in a space of 29 minutes.

About 1,000 people are expected to attend in total on Easdale, which is home to just 60 people.

Dr Kyle Mathews, a member of the championships’ organising council, said Welsh, Swiss and Belgian skimming championships were expected to take part.

He said: “I don’t want to jinx it, but the weather is looking good at the moment.”

The championships are open to all ages and abilities and, as in previous years, has attracted entrants from all over the world.

Last year’s event was the first since 2019 due to the Covid pandemic.

The championships are held in a flooded quarry, a relic from when roofing slate was quarried from the 17th Century until the early 20th Century.

The stones used must be from Easdale and organisers check for “any funny business” – stones being brought in from outside the island.

A section of the quarry is marked out as the competition area.

Each competitor is allowed three skims, and their stones must bounce on the water three times.

The winner is the person who can skim a stone the furthest distance before it sinks.

Last year’s winner was Finn Dower, 16, from Perthshire.

Easdale, 17 miles (27km) from Oban in the Sound of Lorn, is the smallest of the Slate Islands. The other isles are Seil and Luing.

Slate from the islands was used for the roofs of Cawdor Castle near Inverness and Glasgow Cathedral, as well as properties in eastern Canada.

Easdale’s championships are a major fundraiser for the community and take place around the end of the main tourist season.