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Fortress 5140Home \ Fortresses \ May 2000 \ 5140
Location: Lanikai Beach |
Sunday, May 14, 2000
Fortress #11 was created at Lanikai Beach. The sun was out in full force. Lisa
went with me and carved a little too. The timing of the tides did not allow for
a drainage system, so I just built a regular fortress. I stacked up all the sand by
hand because I didn't bring any buckets.
-Shut up and get to the pictures-
My goal this time was to go high and make a couple of nice arches. As far as height went, I succeeded in piling up a tower over five feet tall. The base was two feet across. I made two more towers nearby and connected them with walls of cement. On one side of the tall tower, I planned a high arch, and piled up a bunch of regular sand, on top of which I piled cement. (Since the sand below the arch would be removed, I used just plain sand to support the cement.) After about an hour of piling up wet sand, it was ready for carving.
I started with the tallest tower. I didn't have any idea how I wanted it to look, but once the sand was piled and I stared at it for a while, I decided on a dual tip for the top. It somewhat resembled the back of a claw hammer, only the claws went straight up. I continued down the sides a little, then I moved to the arch. The wall where the arch was going to be was about two feet tall, which would result in a nice, tall arch. Carving the arch was going along just fine when disaster struck. Without warning, the arch collapsed, followed immediately by the top third of the tall tower. My five foot tower was now about three. It was horrible. But, I just moved on and carved the rest of it. Collapses are part of the game and when it happens, you just have to tango on. As a small consolation, there are a couple photos of the tall tower taken before it was carved.
There was space for a second arch on the other side of the once tall tower, and that one was a success. I planned a dual tower on the other side of the arch. Lisa had carved it a little and was the inspiration for the grooved look of the twin towers. I just sharpened it up. They seem to have a hint of Japanese in their architectural style.
We were running short of time, so I hastily whacked away at the last portions of the fortress that were uncarved, doing very little detail work. Then I took pictures and we left.
Even with the disasters and lack of time, it was still a nice fortress.
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