Jackstar

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The sculpture was part of the Portsmouth Millenium Gateway Project that was managed by Ron Tate Head of Planning at the City Council and funded by Onyx Environmental. The original brief requested that an artist should design a bird roost to replace land that had been absorbed in one of the Onyx waste disposal areas to accommodate migrating seabirds and Brent geese. Consent for Planning Permission was given by the City council, the Environment Agency, MAFF and DETR. Many others were also involved.
It is visible from the M275 on the left hand side going into the city along with the Sails of the South and additions to the bridge and is located in Tipner Lake near the greyhound stadium and Pounds Yard.
The Jack itself weighs around 600kg and is 3300mm long. It was made at FLM, in Ashton-u-Lyne, Greater Manchester out of mild steel and was zinc sprayed and laquered nearby. The plastic floats were manufactured much nearer to Portsmouth at IEP in Liphook out of 10mm sheet welded into an internally boxed structure able to take the weight of the flags.
The installation work was organised by Steve Tebb of the Marine Engineering Dept. The installation by Baker Trait went well, early in 2001 with them driving the pile six meters into the mud of the deep channel in the lake.
It looks like a coastal marker of some sort but slowly people have begun to recognise that it is in fact a jack; one of the little metal stars from the child’s game that originated years ago as knuckle stones. The rationale behind the piece was important and has several elements. It refers to sailors, navigation, the stars and birds amongst other things. The steel flags with their stars refer to the city crest and it may even relate to Noah and his doves. Or was it the fact that Irish monks followed skeins of geese to find northern lands or is it a monument to artist Sgt Jack Guterman DFC of 617 squadron and his crew?
Damage to the float that rises and falls with the tides on the pile is attributed to 'break-aways'; boats from Pounds ship breakers yard that have the habit of floating off. It has recently been repaired with the float now full of expanded polystyrene foam and the fourth flag that had been missing for years welded back on to the structure.