Stone Skimming
Skimming stones on a river or glassy lake is a deeply therapeutic and mindful activity and requires skill too!
From stone selection to pace and trajectory (20 degrees is ideal I hear)… Practice improves your form.
Flat stones with round edges skip best and luckily these are often found around the banks of rivers and lakes.
In addition to being informed by the shape and weight of the stone according to a paper published in the American Journal of Physics, the number of times a rock will skip is determined by the forward speed of the stone, the velocity of its spin, and the angle that it strikes the water. A rapidly spinning stone thrown at high speed will bounce more times than a slow-spinning stone thrown with less vigour.
But of course the main reason we might want to skim stones is less about analysis and more about relaxation – simply idling away time, elegantly propelling a rock over a nice piece of water. What better way to relax and get your Blue Mind on that watching the stone break the surface tension creating ripples as it flies through the air kissing the surface of the water a few times before submerging below.
World Stone Skimming Championship http://www.stoneskimming.com/