Building castles in the sand
Young Chang
Dan Hamilton has seen windows in these castles.
He’s seen brick outlines in the walls, fruit pieces used as eyes in
sculptures and toe nails and fingernails neatly shaped out.
“It’s amazing what people can do with three hours,” said the chairman
of the Sandcastle Contest.
He expects the same intensity and creativity during this year’s
competition, which happens today at Corona del Mar State Beach.
Presented by the Commodores Club of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of
Commerce, the 40th annual Sandcastle Contest is said to be the second
longest running in the country, attracting teams from both corporations
and families.
Hamilton estimates that about 40 teams will compete, with around eight
people to a team, for prizes and plaques and the added perk of each
participant receiving a round-trip ticket to Catalina -- a gift from the
Catalina Passenger Service.
“What we try to do is keep it on a lighter note where we’ll have some
very elaborate sculptures, in terms of traditional castles, and some
unique ones in terms of humorous ones,” Hamilton said.
Awards will go to the overall best creation, the most unique
sandcastle, the most unique sand sculpture, the most humorous creation
and some honorable mentions.
Masters class participants -- which includes architects and engineers
-- will be allotted plots of sand 20 feet by 20 feet, and businesses and
families will be given 15 feet by 15 feet spaces.
One important rule is that only biodegradable props are allowed. This
means fruits can be used as decoration, shells too, but no buttons or
other plastic materials.
Contestants have used food coloring in the past, which is allowed.
But Chris Sommers, a loan officer with Barrington Capital Corporation
in Newport Beach who plans to participate in the contest for his third
year, suggests using lots of buckets.
“The more buckets and the more people, the better,” he said from an
expert’s standpoint. “You just want to use as much water as you can and
pack it down.”
His team of about 35 people -- they’ll rotate people in and out so the
group is no bigger than eight at any one time -- is still debating
whether to build a shark or a mermaid.
“There’s been so many shark incidents this year that we want to try to
portray it in not the evil manner,” Sommers, 36, said.
Marc Africano, a Huntington Beach resident who will build a castle
with his two children and wife, has a title for his creation: “Devon’s
Castle.”
“It’s going to be a very special one this year because we have a
neighbor who’s been diagnosed with leukemia and we’re gonna be building a
castle for her,” the 35-year-old said. “We’re gonna make a huge one for
her. She’s been in chemotherapy for a month now.”
The castle will have bridges and peaks, arches and moats.
Sommers and his team built a similar castle last year. When asked
about his fondest memory of the event, he said laughing,
“The fact that our sandcastle did not collapse, like it did the
previous year.”
FYI
WHAT: Sandcastle Contest
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today
WHERE: Corona Del Mar State Beach, Ocean Boulevard and Iris Avenue
COST: Free to watch. $60 for masters class participants, $40 for those
in the business class, $30 for families, and other organizations,
including civic and service groups.
CALL: (949) 729-4400
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