h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What an excellent adjective!
I have only ever managed 4 skims before a thwunk, but am in the West Country on the coast at Chesil Beach where the pebbles are round.
Happy thwunking!

What happens to all the skimmm mm mmm mm able stones.
I wonder if each generations skimming makes it much harder for the next to find good stones. Or does the sea return enough up the beach?

I've worried about that for years! I've been going to this particular place to skim stones for almost twenty years and must have skimmed thousands of stones in that period. It does seem each year that the winter floods produce enough good stones for the season, but I guess that in the end the stones will run out. I hope I'll be decent enough to ration myself when that starts to happen.

I hope you skimmed well. The "thwunk" normally comes from a different kind of throw - this one goes as high in the air as you can get it. The stone should be quite small and most shapes seem to work. As the stone, which should be spinning, hits the water it makes this wonderful noise - the "thwunk". If you get it right you'll know it. It sounds like the river enveloping the stone with a little exclamation of excitement. I sometimes play the game lying down on my back, and only listening for the noise, not actually seeing the stone hit the water. Lying on your back is also a good way of getting the spin on the stone just right.

Isn't it so very human that even in the middle of one of the most pointless, yet relaxing pastimes we can still find something to worry about.
This must be the other end of the spectrum to laughing in the face of disaster.

True - but the satisfaction of finding the right stones and either skipping them just right or "thwunking" them normally outweighs the worry for me.