Rock Skipping

I like rock skipping. A lot. :>

Why rock skipping?

I think rock skipping is neat. It’s fun to see the rock bound (skip!) and move around. And it’s fun to see it splash when it eventally (or immediately) drops into the water. It’s such a nice and calming activity that it makes me sad to think almost no one takes interest in it.

How did you start?

There was a small (man-made) lake near my house in my town that I often went to with my friends. We started by picking up big rocks and dropping/throwing them into the water, as you do. Eventually we ventured to smaller rocks. This was quite the controversy! The smaller the rock, the smaller the splash… this was quite suboptimal for us big-splash fanatics, but we considered it.

Not much happen after but eventually when I came to the lake on my own, emboldened by this new technology I threw smaller rocks at the water. Obviously as hard as I could. Interestingly however, one of them bounced!? It skipped! Being enthralled I tried recreating it, but I couldn’t “skip” effectively.

I kept practicing and over a few months I went from 1 skip, to 2, to 3, and I eventually passed my 7-skip barrier. However, I didn’t think much better was possible, so I did what any obsessed person would do: I looked for greener pastures. (Or I mean bluer-water? Flatter rocks? You get the point.)

I went to a lake a bit farther away and there was a great abundance of nice, flat, thin, yet hefty rocks. These I would learn later are great for skipping. (I will talk more about this is in a future post!) I got some of my best skips here (see the two videos below).

Since then I’ve been skipping a lot and other times not so much. I’m at UCLA right now and there’s no places (that I’ve found) that are both:

• good for skipping and
• doesn’t have people swimming in it.

Though the latter does not necessarily prevent the former, they definitely don’t mix well… especially if you’re the one swimming.

My best skips

Just watch. B)

Rock Skipping Media

• Skip Stones for Fudge by Highway Goat: Fantastic documentary about rock skipping and, in particular, Kurt “Mountain Man” Steiner.
• Stone Skipper on Youtube: Kurt Steiner’s Youtube channel. He posts rock skipping clips (they’re insane! he’s one of the very best) and sometimes competition footage.
• Why It’s Almost Impossible to Skip a Stone 89 Times by Wired: A really cool video about the science of rock skipping and what the potential limits of the activity are.