The tallest sand castle in the world: sculpture-record holder Ed Gerrett

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sand castles are too short-lived, and building them is the same as building air ones? Sculptor Ed Gerrett disagrees. From year to year, he sets new altitude records and creates real masterpieces of beach architecture - though not from the beach, but from the so-called coarse-grained sand, which sticks together much better. The last project of the master is a beautiful 11, 5-meter sand castle with man-made dragons, lions and chains.

Ed Jarrett first built the world's tallest sand castle just 8 years ago, in 2003, and after 4 years he himself broke his own art record. Another 4 years have passed - it's time to get down to work again and build something monumental in sand. It's funny that 27 years ago Ed Jerrett started with ice sculpture, then became interested in modeling from snow, and now he switched to sand.

Of course, a sand sculptor of this level will not do with a bucket of sand and a scoop. And materials, and devices, and forces are needed more. In a large-scale project, 1,500 assistants were involved, who also worked tirelessly. It's no joke - to train a whole mountain - 726 tons! - sand, so that there is something to sculpt from.

Work on the record-breaking sand castle began on April 1 and ended on May 20. It was planned, however, to build the fortress higher (not lower than 12 meters), but the plan was not destined to come true: the weather interfered. When meteorologists warned Ed Gerrett's team about unfavorable weather conditions, it was decided to fix the record as it is. The fact is that rain is not a hindrance to a sand castle, but vibration during a thunderstorm can destroy the structure.

In principle, and so it turned out well: the record was broken, the castle was built. For the past 2 weeks, Ed Jerrett has been living in a trailer at the work site, devoting 15 hours a day to sand creation. But the result was worth it, right? Moreover, the sculptor collects money for charity with his work.

A sand castle is a special object, and it is not built from the bottom up, like all buildings, but vice versa. Therefore, first, scaffolding is mounted around the pile of sand: they are dismantled as soon as the upper tiers are ready. In addition, the building is being erected without a preliminary project or even a sketch: all ideas for the time being are stored in the most reliable place - in the head of the sculptor.