LS-137 "Stumped"
LS-137 "Stumped" | ||
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| Many factors play parts in the ocean's movements. With years of experience, I have great confidence in predicting how far waves will wash up the beach. Each inch higher is that much farther I have to carry sand and water, so placing the sculpture as low as possible is a good thing. Today's tide is predicted at 3.9 feet. |
| Build number: | DNF (tide washout at 95%, lifetime start #137) |
| Title: | "Stumped" (nee "Gabrielle and Xena") |
| Date: | 1998 May 30 |
| Location: | Venice Breakwater |
| Start: | 0800; building time: 7 hours |
| Height: | 4 feet |
| Base: | 1.75 feet, cylindric |
| Photography: | only Rich got anything |
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The sand is wonderful. On rare, magic days, the sand here is like cream. Smooth, soft, and it packs beautifully. Today is the day. High tide will be at 1500, so I build just out of its predicted reach.
Lately I've been reading some stories written by fans of a television show about Xena. The stories have a spark that professional writing frequently lacks, and some are quite good. Xena and her friend Gabrielle have an interesting relationship; different writers handle it in different ways, but it's always the center of the story. I like this as an anodyne to the more typical mechanical relationships incidental to a story. So, with these ideas floating around in my mind, I start carving the wonderful buttery sand. When Rich shows up, I have him take a stroke so he'll know what it's like. This is what I hope for every year, and it happens only once or twice. Intimations of trouble come riding a wave around noon. My feet get wet. The water shouldn't be anywhere near this high. Must be a sport. No, more waves come in, stronger. I return my awareness to the outside world and wonder what's happening. Tides are predicted, based on movements of sun and moon. Storms and atmospheric pressure also have effects, but are less predictable. Today none of that applies; sunlight pours out of a sky that looks as if it couldn't even conceive of a storm. Finally, I overhear people talking of a tropical storm far to the southwest. Its surf just happened to make landfall at the wrong time for me.
It surely won't build much farther. I dig a trench and use the sand to build a seawall below the sculpture and go back to carving. Waves wash over the wall. When I start spending more time building wall than carving I give it over. When big waves come in I throw my body on the sand below the sculpture. A little water sneaks past, but the technique works if I keep a sharp eye and ear out for incoming water. After the wave passes, I have to quickly move to the uphill side to block the backwash. This all works, mostly. Gradually the sculpture's base erodes. A big wave approaches. I dive and take it in the face. Getting up to block the backwash, I see another and drop to take it. It smacks me, but the first one has already done its work. Half the sculpture falls over as the saturated base sags. Rich and I eat cookies and watch the inevitable. There's no way I would have predicted this; the waves are washing 15 feet beyond where I put the sculpture. There was margin for error, but not that much. That beautiful sand falls and washes away. I wish I could keep it. I'm somewhat dejected as Rich helps me pack up. Yah, there'll be other times, but this sand! It's rare, being far less predictable than the tide is supposed to be. | ||||||||||
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Original: 98 December 20 (direct to HTML) Photography by Rich Johnson
All contents copyright 1998 by
Larry Nelson | ||||||||||
ls137rpt.htm 99 February 21
