Game of Throws: Islander sets up online stone skimming championship

Friday 23 October 2020

With the World Stone Skimming Championships on the rocks due to covid, one islander has gone out of his way to ensure skimmers still get a chance to compete online.

Charles Mauleverer has set up T.O.S.S.I.N.G. – ‘The Online Stone Skimming International Non-profit Games,’ which will see skimmers from across the globe compete to be number one.

Charles had been attending the World Championships in Scotland for the past three years, meeting all kinds of characters from countries ranging from Hungary to Japan whilst participating in this “increasingly international” sport. 

With the Championships cancelled due to covid, he said he thought “if nobody else is doing anything this year, why not put something online as an alternative – it always seems to bring a smile to people’s faces.”  

Pictured: Charles Mauleverer said he had set up the online championship following the cancellation of Easdale Island's annual competition. 

The result has already drawn entries from hopeful throwers, and Charles said Dougie Isaacs, the man who currently holds the 121.8 metre distance record, is also considering taking part. 

Skimmers will be able to throw their pebble in the ring by simply uploading a video, which will then be posted by the competition’s website, stonetossing.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. 

Breaking down the rules, he said there are three different categories in which the throws will be judged: number of skips, distance thrown, and ‘style’.

Pictured: The competition will incorporate all three of the usual criteria for judging, to allow for the competition to be as global as possible.

“In Japan they believe they incorporate style as part of the judging criteria,” he explained, “so I thought why not put everything into the mix and we get people to have a setting where they can put on a costume and put some imagination into their video,” emphasising that alongside fantastic throws, they want to get “some silliness in there as well.”

Charles said that he had already had set his entry in stone, which will involve “a medieval knight rescuing a princess being attacked by an inflatable flamingo” at Portelet. 

Entries will then be judged by the man who Charles described as “perhaps the world’s greatest skimmer,” Keisuke Hashimoto. 

The competition is non-profit, but Charles said that “as a side-line we will be sending some links through our website for people who are suffering with mental health issues as we know how lockdown is affecting people.

“We know what stone skimming can do for mental health and it’s also a great form of meditation in its own right.”

Anyone aiming to rock the competition with their entry will have until November 30^th to send in their short video.