Built to Stand the Test of Time

Today, I went to the beach. I waded in the water, I threw around a frisbee, but most importantly, I built a sandcastle. It's been a while since last I built one, and I was reminded again of how much engineering and thought goes into building a good, "lasting" sandcastle.

Lasting until the tide rises too far, anyway. A proper sandcastle must be built somewhere just a few feet above where the waves can reach at the time of construction, and should be built in such a way that the first dozen or so waves won't tear it down. For my castle today, I did that via the dual-moat method.

As for why the sandcastle must be built at such a location, there are two reasons. First, that is where the best sand for building can be found. If it were built any further inland, sand would have to be hauled up from this part of the beach. That's a lot of work for a structure that, between the dogs, frisbees and marauding feet, ignoring the waves themselves, a structure that won't last for more than a little while anyway. It's best to build it at this location and resign your castle to oblivion in the sea.

The second reason for building at this location is that it makes it a much more interesting and fun structural challenge. It's fairly interesting, in my mind, to try to build a castle that will withstand as many waves as I can. The dual-moat method is decent for the initial breaking waves and for the building phase, but there are other methods to keep the castle standing, even when the tide again begins to rise. Drain holes (or lack thereof), sticks and shells, and appropriate placement and direction are all very important to consider.

My castle today wasn't overly impressive. A walled structure containing a large building, several towers and a couple smaller buildings, mostly interconnected. But as people walked by, even a couple hours after construction was complete, they'd stop and look at it, hoping to see that first wave break over the outer wall.

I was pleased by the family that stood by for quite a while before finally giving up and heading on home. Even if the kid decided he'd try helping waves through the outer moat.