Sand Sculptures

Story and Photos by Keith Kellett

‘That’ I thought to myself ‘is one hell of a sandcastle!'

As I usually do in a strange place, I awoke early, and set out to explore. At Scheveningen, in the Netherlands, the long, clean beach was only yards from my hotel.

Beyond the promenade was a line of beach clubs, and beyond them, the sandcastle. But, this was no ordinary sandcastle; not the ephemeral structure built by kids, to be washed away on the next incoming tide. This one was a good ten feet tall, and was built to last. Indeed, it was surrounded by fencing, to protect it from unauthorised interference.

Closer investigation revealed several similar structures, eight in all.

A leaflet I picked up later at the Tourist Office explained all … or it would have done, if it hadn’t been in Dutch. But, I was able to use Babelfish and my knowledge of German to get the gist of what it said.

These castles were part of the 16th Scheveningen International Sand Sculpture Festival. It started on the 30th April 2006, and would be judged on the 5th June, when the sculptures would be shown off at their best.Is ‘International’ maybe a bit ambitious, though? The leaflet gave the names of the members of the teams participating … and all seemed to be Dutch.

This was only May, and the actual judging was some way off. But, the sculptures were well on the way to completion, and it seems the secret of their longevity is that they import river sand … about 60 tonnes per sculpture. Beach sand is, apparently, no good for this purpose, as the grains are too rounded. Then, they mix the river sand with water … no other ‘ingredients’ are allowed---and really compress it. After that they sculpt it with a variety of instruments … knives, trowels, spades or household implements. All are allowed.

Since 2006 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, this had to be the theme of the sculptures this year. In 2005, according to the leaflet, the theme was ‘Queens of Netherlands’, and a picture of the winning entry showed the last four reigning Queens posed in a parody of the Mount Rushmore Memorial.

But, I would like to have seen the ‘finished product’, this year, where, in addition to being seen in all its glory, each sculpture had to play a piece of Mozart’s music. The website showed a picture of the winning team ... but some video of the winning entry would have been most welcome.

For more information, see http://www.sandsculptures.nl/ ... if you can read Dutch, or have some translation software handy.