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If you want to curl, better get a good stone
By Julie Dockstader Heaps
Deseret News Olympic specialist
OGDEN — All sports equipment is unique to a particular athletic activity. But how many athletes do you know order a piece of equipment from a granite quarry in Scotland?
Curlers do. And not just any quarry. Curling stones — including those used at The Ice Sheet during Olympic curling competition — come from Ailsa Craig, an island off the Scottish coast.
Using Ailsa Craig granite is not tradition, said Sinclair. "It's just something that's best. First of all, (the granite) has to be of a certain quality and not something that will chip easily. A certain type of volcanic rock is required. They discovered that (Ailsa Craig rock) was almost perfect."
And rare. Sinclair, a curler for 33 years and a silver medalist for his native Scotland at the 1976 world championships, said that because Ailsa Craig granite is difficult to quarry in large quantities, the World Curling Federation sanctions stones where the body is made from Blue Trevor granite from Wales, with the bottom rim and "cup" of the stone from Ailsa Craig.
Were curling fans at the 2002 Winter Games able to examine the stones up close, they would see a disk-shaped insert attached by adhesive to the underside. The lighter insert is called "red hone" granite and is about three quarters of an inch in depth. The stone is cup-shaped on the bottom with a rim upon which the stone glides on the ice. The sweeping motion of the broom creates a thin layer of water, affecting speed and direction.
Curling stones have been of uniform weight and shape since about 1925. The earliest stone was discovered in Stirling, Scotland, and dated to 1511.
Those early stones had no handles, just thumb grips. In the 1700s, curlers added iron handles, and by the 1800s, when a growth spurt brought a love for the sport to thousands in Scotland, stones became cone-shaped.
Curling stones may have developed over the centuries, but curling itself remains much the same as it was played 500 years ago. "Many of the traditions have stayed with the game," Sinclair said. "You shake hands when you start; you shake when you finish. If you are guilty of breaking a rule, even if you opponent doesn't see, you tell them. It's a very honest game. Those who don't play honestly are very quickly known for their activities; they don't last too long."
E-mail: julied@desnews.com
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February 20, 2002
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