The World Stone Skimming Championships Sold Out Before September and the Only Way In Next Year Is a Five-Pound Ballot
Easdale Island near Oban hosts the championships on 5 September. Competitor places are gone, spectating is free, and the 2027 entry ballot opens later this year.
The World Stone Skimming Championships are held on Easdale Island near Oban on Saturday 5 September 2026, and competitor places are sold out. The day runs from 11am to 11pm, with check-in and breakfast from 9am, the first toss at 11am and prize giving at 4.30pm.
The weekend
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Friday 4 Sept | Pre-Skim Party |
| Saturday 5 Sept | Championships, 11am to 11pm |
| Saturday 5 Sept | First toss 11am |
| Saturday 5 Sept | Prize giving 4.30pm |
| Saturday evening | Post-Skim Party |
Getting in next year
Entry is by ballot. The 2027 ballot opens later in 2026 at five pounds per person to enter. Successful applicants then pay twenty pounds for an adult competition ticket or five pounds for children and juniors.
A paid ballot for the right to buy a ticket is what happens when a village competition outgrows its venue. Easdale Island is small, the flooded slate quarry the event is skimmed across is a fixed size, and the number of competitors it can process in a day does not scale. Selling a ballot entry is the fairest available answer and it also funds the island.
Spectating
Free. Transport from Oban runs at fourteen pounds single or twenty-five pounds return through Tartan Tours.
Where the money goes
The championships are run by a registered Scottish charity, number SC027102. Proceeds from the ballot and ticket sales support Easdale's harbour, community hall and museum, and local charities.
That is the part worth noting. A world championship in a novelty discipline that funds a harbour is doing something a great many properly constituted sports events do not.
Where it sits on Playdash
Playdash does not price stone skimming. This is editorial coverage of the novelty competitive calendar rather than a market preview.
Date, timings, ballot and ticket prices, transport costs and charity registration as published by the World Stone Skimming Championships. The distance record and competitor numbers were not confirmed in the source consulted and are not stated here. Correct at the time of writing on 29 August 2026.