Event organiser Richie Laming steps up to the platform and tries his hand at skimming.
An Australian with a calling and an Auckland radio host running on pure determination are the newly crowned national champions of stone skimming.
In pristine conditions, hundreds flocked to a remote corner of Lake Hāwea on Saturday to watch or toss a rock at the inaugural national competition.
Abbey McDonald, an Australian living in Queenstown, described her decision to enter the event as a feeling of destiny.
She quickly stole the show with a skim of 72 metres - the furthest of the day - then cinched the women's final and a ticket to the World Stone Skimming Championships in Scotland in September. Her throw in the final was 42 metres.
