Balboa Island beach sculptor is king of his sandcastles

If you’ve walked along the harbor front on Balboa Island on a Saturday in the past three years, chances are you’ve seen Chris Crosson.

Those who aren’t on a first-name basis with the Irvine resident know him as “Mr. Sand Man” or the apt nickname “The Sandcastle Guy.” Regardless of the weather, Crosson can be found every Saturday morning building sculptures out of sand where Sapphire Avenue meets South Bay Front on the man-made island.

“My wife always says this is my passion, but this is just a hobby,” Crosson said. “It’s almost like therapy. Once you get carving, it’s very Zen-like.”

Crosson’s sandcastles aren’t just mounds of sand placed on top of one another. He sculpts everything from mermaids and other sea creatures to a giant clock to remind Balboa Island residents about daylight-saving time.

When he does create a castle, he’ll make sure to include all the intricate details, from the brick on the front to the pillars that lead to the door.

As he carved windows into his latest castle, the 56-year-old father of three fondly recalled taking his children to the beach to build sandcastles when they were young.

Crosson’s enthusiasm for buildings things out of sand got a jump start in 1994, when he and his family enrolled for the first time as a team in the Corona del Mar sandcastle contest, held every October at Big Corona.

Crosson thought the contest would be a good way to market his company, Doggie Walk Bags, which makes the blue bags that are placed along sidewalks at parks and beaches for dog owners to use to clean up after their pets.

“We continue to go back every year,” he said. “It’s become a social event.”

Though he has spent decades in Irvine, Crosson isn’t a stranger to Newport Beach. He grew up in a house on Sapphire Avenue, so returning there to play and build on weekends seems natural, he said.

He started on last Saturday’s castle, which reached more than 6 feet tall and featured two large towers and four smaller ones, at 9 a.m. with a hefty pile of sand.

Crosson laid out his personalized tools and began building. Local families and out-of-towners grabbed coffee and strolled among shops on Marine Avenue. Boaters hopped on their vessels for a sail around the harbor as Crosson piled up sand to create the base of his castle.

After wrapping the base in black roofing paper, Crosson stacked sand-filled cylinders on top of one another and rushed to the shoreline to fill two white buckets with sea water to solidify the sand.

“This part is the workout. The rest is the art,” he said.

Balboa Island residents and people who frequent the area, like Skip Vose, make a point of walking by Sapphire Avenue on Saturdays to see what Crosson is building.

“He doesn’t like to hear this, but he’s like an icon on the island,” Vose said. “People are so taken by what he builds.”

Because so many families stop to watch Crosson and ask for advice, he decided about a year ago to create and sell sandcastle kits online, complete with buckets, plastic pipes, roofing paper, a collapsible shovel and a bag of other tools.

“I wanted to come up with a way that could make all these kids feel like they could be superstars,” he said.

As Crosson worked Saturday, a crowd formed to watch. Two young girls and their father stopped to ask Crosson for tips on how to build a sturdy sandcastle. He happily obliged.

“Everyone can build a sandcastle,” he said. “All you need is sand, water and a little bit of imagination.”