Sandcastler

The sandcastler “is engaged in creating a moment of triumph, a moment of splendor and personal achievement. The fact that that moment must end is of little importance — except that it makes the moment sweeter.”

So the first essential ingredient is a dream. Of course, imagination by itself does not suffice. You must acquire the skills to match your dreams—or you will remain a bemused armchair sandcastler, nurturing pipe dreams of unfulfillable glory. / Fortunately the skills required for sandcastling are developed with reasonable ease in a pleasant environment. […] The sandcastlers who would duplicate the original had to make crumbling beach sand the consistency of granite in order to support the delicate archways, the balustrades and balconies, and the flying buttresses of Heiliggeist Cathedral.

The sun is both friend and foe to the sandcastler. […] There is no official bulletin, no sandcastlers’ newsletter, so you have to find out about many of the smaller contests by word of mouth.

Widely known as the “fairytale castle builder,” Gordon is considered a professional sandcastler and snow sculptor, competing successfully in many such events throughout the United States and Canada.

Sandcastlers up and down the state have been threatened with an enforcement suit by a citizens group alleging that building sandcastles on the beach (at least below the ordinary high water mark or mean high tide line) violates the Clean Water Act except in those instances where a sandcastler has obtained an individual certification from the pertinent regional water quality control board.

In terms of boundary play, though, most interesting of all to me were the children I saw building sandcastles, also depicted on the diagram. I witnessed two distinct types of sandcastlers. […] The second type of sandcastler, though, was a little more daring. This person built her or his castle right on the edge of the lapping water.