THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030050
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
As most of Hampton Roads slumbered early Sunday morning, 28-year-old Michael L. Standley was just getting to work.
It was up to him, and a crew of about 40 others, to transform a 28-square-foot plot of sand along 10th Street at the Oceanfront into a sculpture that would awe a panel of judges and protect their title as sandcastle champions for the second year in a row. It was the second day of the Sandcastle Classic, one of the premier events of the city's annual Neptune Festival.
Festival organizers had no estimate of the number of people drawn to the Oceanfront for the weekend's events, which also included a volleyball tournament, an art show and a parade.
On Saturday, about 30 teams competed in four sand-sculpting divisions: ``free-lance'' teams and groups from elementary, middle and high schools. Sunday, 16 teams went head-to-head in three divisions: businesses, nonprofit groups and professional sand sculptors.
This is the fourth year Standley and his team have competed in the event, representing their Norfolk-based architecture firm of Clark, Nexsen, Owen, Barbieri and Gibson.
They take it seriously.
The firm's 80-person staff divides itself into committees, one in charge of designing the sand sculpture, another charged with getting T-shirts for the team, another with bringing food. The design committee comes up with four or five ideas, and the whole staff votes for a favorite. Then a clay model is made.
The model is ``the biggest help,'' said Standley, who at 10:30 a.m. clambered up the pile of sand his crew had shoveled and set the clay figure on top, following its lines as he began sculpting with tools tucked into a carpentry belt. He had until 2 p.m. to create a masterpiece from the mound.
This time, the team decided to carve a giant King Neptune, dressed in military garb, astride a dolphin heading to the coast of France for D-Day. It seemed fitting for this year, the 50th anniversary of the World War II invasion. Also, the team's research had revealed a little-known fact: the written plan for D-Day was called Operation Neptune.
The commemorative design beat someone else's idea to sculpt King Neptune dressed as Elvis. (Elvis did make an appearance at the event, as a casino dealer handing cards to King Neptune in a Las Vegas-like sand sculpture created by the only nonprofit group to compete, the Mogul Ski Club of Virginia Beach).
As the 2 p.m. deadline loomed , and recognizable shapes began to emerge from the beach, it appeared that Standley's team had some stiff competition.
Judges rated sculptures on four criteria: originality, skill of construction, adherence to the festival's theme and the expression of the sculpture, which competition organizer Donna Tate defined as ``how the concept all came together.'' This year's Neptune Festival theme was a French phrase: ``Vive le Neptune.''
One team in the business division crafted a ``Can Can Tan,'' with a row of cherubic toddlers sunning their sandy backsides. Another team opted for a play on words, ``L'Escargot to France,'' with King Neptune linked to Paris' Eiffel Tower by a row of sand snails.
The pros' designs were even more elaborate. One striking sculpture consisted of a giant hand grabbing a hunk of sand. The hand seemed to strain to reach a key atop a small mound, but was held back by a huge chain around the wrist. The sculpture, entitled ``Beach L'Erosion,'' was supposed to represent sand dunes as the key to keeping King Neptune's watery hand from stealing the beach.
The artist, John E. Gowdy, 37, a firefighter from Atlantic City, N.J., said beach erosion is as much of an issue where he lives as it is in Virginia Beach.
``We stay environmental'' with sand sculpture themes, said Gowdy, who has competed professionally in sandcastle competitions for about two years. He and his three-member team dreamed up the design Friday night around a campfire.
First prize for professionals Sunday was $2,000. The winner of the nonprofit division, Mogul Ski Club, the only entry in the division, received a trophy and $1,000. Teams in other divisions received plaques and trophies for their efforts.
In the end, Standley's group was forced to give up the trophy that has occupied the firm's conference room since last year. URS Consultants Inc. of Virginia Beach wrested away the championship in the business division.
First place in the professional division went to the Sandy Feat team from Raleigh, N.C. In the free-lance division, Windsor Art Club took the plaque. Kingston Elementary School in Virginia Beach took first place in the elementary division, while St. Gregory Catholic School and Green Run High, both in Virginia Beach, won first places in the middle and high school categories, respectively. (For complete results, see this week's Virginia Beach Beacon.) ILLUSTRATION: THE NEPTUNE FESTIVAL
[Color Photo]
STEVE EARLEY/Staff
Damon Farmer, left, and his brother Bob of the Shadetree Studio team
work on their sculpture, ``Vive le Neptoleon Bonaparte.''
STEVE EARLEY/Staff photos
ABOVE: Jay Mansisidor goes up for a spike against Sue Vance during
the Neptune Festival's Coed Open Volleyball Tournament. BELOW:
Eleven-year-old Jack Smith, a visitor from Pennsylvania, relaxes on
the boardwalk and watches Jammie Prater of the Sandy Feat sandcastle
team shovel wet sand.
by CNB