ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY IN YORK, MAINE! 💍🌊🙌
Just at 1:29 PM today, I received a text from Brian with a message that every married person dreads. Around 1:00 PM, he had lost his wedding ring in the water at Short Sands Beach in York, Maine.
Brian had been out in the ocean playing volleyball with his children when the ring slipped off. Fortunately, he was able to provide incredibly precise details about exactly where he was. His text read:
“Hi Dennis, my name is Brian W*******. I lost my wedding ring today in the water at Short Sands Beach in York. It was around 1pm, high tide was 12:30. I was only waste deep at the time, about 30ish yards from the rocks on the left side, the Union Bluff Hotel side. Is it at all possible you might be in the area?”
🕒 The Quick Reply & Setup
I immediately replied: “Hi, I am at a Dr appointment, with my mother. We should be finished very soon and I can come as soon as she is done. Do you see or feel it coming off?”
Brian quickly texted back: “I was standing in one spot hitting a volleyball. I didn’t see it come off but it definitely did while playing. I know the tide goes out pretty far.”
I let Brian know that my mother would soon be done with her appointment and I would be on my way to meet up with him. Once I brought my mother safely home, Cheryl and I geared up and headed straight to York, Maine.
🏖️ Formulating the Strategy
We arrived at Short Sands Beach around 3:15 PM and contacted Brian to get his location. We walked down past Fun-O-Rama to meet him, and he immediately took us down to the area where the volleyball game had taken place.
With low tide still three hours away, it was time to formulate a strategy. Brian told me the lost band was a Titanium Wedding Ring. He knew exactly where he had been standing to play volleyball, but as any ring finder knows, a ring can fly off a finger in absolutely any direction when you strike a ball.
Because the beach was far too busy to navigate the crowds on the dry sand, my game plan focused exclusively on the wet sand. I decided to grid search north to south, parallel with the shoreline and the receding water. I told Brian I would start about 20 feet closer to the shore and sweep an approximately 60-to-75-foot width of the wet beach. This would ensure I covered everything straight through his playing zone and all the way down to the low tide line.
🔍 Ok, Let’s Go Find a Wedding Ring!
Fired up and ready, I flipped on the metal detector, dialed in the settings for the wet salt sand, and took my first sweeps.
Almost immediately, a challenge popped up. The wet sand was still packed with people, beach chairs, and gear. Since I couldn’t sweep right under active beachgoers, I had to pivot my technique. Whenever I ran into a crowded spot I couldn’t access, I dug a couple of distinct holes in the sand right next to it. This was my marker system—a visual reminder of exactly where I needed to double back and search later as the crowds packed up for the day.
Slowly, I worked my way down toward the surf. My detector was singing, but it was just the usual beach junk—pull tabs, foil, and the occasional coin. After nearly two hours of relentless swinging, I hit the low tide line. I doubled back to sweep every single area I had previously marked with my holes. Still nothing.
🛑 Facing a Football Field of Sand
Brian and I huddled up to rethink our plan. There was no way that titanium ring had rolled all the way down to the low tide mark on its own. Since he never felt it slip off, I suggested a new theory: the ring might be sitting much higher up on the wet beach, or even in the dry sand around his family’s original setup.
I estimated it would take me another hour to grind out the space between my starting line and their beach blankets.
Expanding the grid meant I was now staring down a search area the size of a literal football field. It was a massive amount of ground to cover alone, and I knew that if the ring didn’t turn up here, we would have to completely reassess the situation.
🚨 The Best Tone of the Day
By now, it was just after 5:00 PM. The beach was finally starting to clear out as I worked my grid back up towards the dunes.
Suddenly, about 30 feet higher up from my original starting point, my machine let out a beautiful, crisp low tone. It was easily the best-sounding target of the entire day.
Could this be it?
I looked over at Brian and told him the signal was incredibly promising, but I didn’t want to guarantee anything until it was out of the ground. I scooped deep into the heavy, hard-packed sand and flipped it over.
There, nestled perfectly in the clump of sand inside my scoop, a silver band caught the light. I just knew it had to be his!
Brian hurried over, took one look into the scoop, and instantly verified it was his missing titanium wedding ring!
The beach immediately erupted! High fives and hugs were exchanged, and a nearby group of beachgoers who had been silently pulling for us the entire afternoon broke out into wild cheering and clapping. Brian was absolutely ecstatic, smiling from ear to ear with his ring back where it belonged.
(🎬 If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to check out the Reel we posted last night to see Brian’s live reaction, the beach crowd cheering, and all the high fives!)
❤️ Why We Never Give Up
That exact rush of emotion is precisely why I refuse to give up on a hunt. I knew the ring had to be out there somewhere. When you hit the two-hour mark with empty pockets, you just have to dig deep and push onward until every single avenue has been explored.
The ring was sitting perfectly within that original 75-foot width we mapped out—it was just sitting a lot higher up the beach than Brian ever realized. Was it thrown that way when his hand struck the volleyball? Was he standing a bit further up than he remembered? Did the incoming tide push it landward? We will never know. But that unpredictability is exactly why expanding your grid is so vital. You can never truly predict where a flying ring will land!
By the time we pulled it up, Brian’s wife and kids had already headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. After another celebratory handshake, Brian took off in a hurry to go surprise his family with the incredible news. Dinner was definitely going to taste a whole lot better tonight with that ring back on his finger.
I love my job—it truly is the best job in the world.
Remember, if it matters to you, it matters to us! 🌊💍❤️
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