Amazing.

That’s usually the first words out of their mouths when friends and co-workers see the work of the San Marcos Suns, the local sand sculpting group that’s won more awards than anyone in the group can remember. It’s hard to believe the intricate and wild formations that come from a little sand and water.

As far as sand sculpting goes, the San Marcos Suns have built quite a reputation.

The group recently traveled to Texas Sand Fest in Port Aransas and brought home second place in its category, as well as the People’s Choice Award, which is voted on purely by spectators.

Few of the Suns are actual artists. Barry Brittain, for instance runs the Coleman Plant in New Braunfels. But all 100 or so members know a thing or two about carving, digging and piling up grains of sand into beautiful beach art.

“People are usually favorably impressed when they see pictures of our work,” Brittain said. “I run a factory, so to think I might be out there getting sandy or dirty and building a sand sculpture doesn’t really fit my day to day persona... but we’re just having fun.”

Which was the point to begin with. When Danny Dever and his wife Pam brought a few friends to Port Aransas in the early 90s, the sand sculpting started. A few more friends, a few more laughs and a few more trophies followed with each trip to the beach.

“That was the only criteria (for joining), just having fun at the beach,” Brittain said. “The San Marcos Suns is really just a collective group of friends, that’s all it is.”

In this year’s competition, the group worked on a concept put together by local artist Scott Wade. The San Marcos Suns illustrated the four seasons in obelisk-shaped formations, with each flat panel being a different season. They had from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to build the entire formation, all within a 10 foot by 10 foot space.

But work begins well before 9 a.m., Brittain says.

“Those of us who don’t mind getting up, we’re out there at about 7 a.m. to start digging and stacking up the sand. It takes a lot of it,” Brittain said.

The early risers usually have enough time for a cold beverage before the sculptors come in to begin forming the piece. Packing the sand tightly, and making it form like clay or even wood, is key to a successful sand sculpture.

“It takes a lot of water,” said Robin Wood, who travels with the group and her husband, Scott Wade. “If you don’t have the right amount of water mixed with your sand, and it doesn’t form up solid, it will collapse. When you’re building a form, it could crack. There’s obviously a lot of things that could go wrong.”

This year the San Marcos Suns had the help of a member’s pet dog, who carried a harnessed wagon behind him to fetch water from the ocean.

“It takes a lot of water,” Brittain reiterates. “For every scoop of sand from a shovel, you’re going to need a bucket of water to pack it with.”

Wood says that it’s relatively easy for anyone to pick up sand sculpting. She and her husband Scott got invited a few years ago, as Scott knows several of the members from bands he’s been in, and the two have made it to every competition the Suns have competed in since.

“We’re hooked. When you show others the sketching of your design and then they see pictures of your sand sculpture when you get back, they always are amazed to see it looks just like the design. It’s a lot of fun,” Wood said.

Not to say there haven’t been some not-so-glorious trips: Like the time the group went down to South Padre completely unaware of Hurricane Roxanne in 1995. Or the year the Red Tide was so bad members couldn’t make it on the beach without wearing surgical masks. But there’s not much the San Marcos Suns aren’t up for.

“Sand castling is a lot of work. You have to be ready for that,” Brittain said. “What we’re experiencing as we get older is that we’re getting a little less energetic, but no less passionate about going to the beach.”

They do, after all, have a reputation to uphold.