Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders

Brian was playing football with some friends on the shores of Mission Beach when his watch got snagged, popped the band loose, and off into the dry sand it went. Surely something as big as a watch could be found by several people running their fingers through the sand like little rakes, right? Nope, all their efforts were in vain. In his search for help, his friend Zack contacted Curtis Cox, a fellow RingFinder member and friend located 25 miles or so north of me. Curtis recommended a call to me since I’m much closer. Thanks Curtis! I arrived at the site, called Zack, and he had Brian meet me to define the search area. At first it looked like a family had come and camped right on ground zero, but, after a minute or two, Brian said it was more likely about 20 feet away, so, I started my search there. After just a minute or two, I got a likely signal and was in the process of investigating when Brian spotted a log that he said was more likely the spot. That log was over right next to the people camped and Brian waved to me to go there. I said, wait a sec, as this might be it, and it was, still ticking away! A happy Brian couldn’t believe how quick it was found. A pleasure to meet you Brian, talk to you Zack, and thanks for the reward.

Barry was in charge of his wife’s three rings while she took a dip in the water of Mission Bay. He dutifully place the rings in his shirt pocket. After a bit, he decided to go into the water also, and took his shirt off and left it there at their picnic table. When he returned, he put his shirt back on and then realized that one of the rings was missing…..the engagement ring. A search ensued, but, the ring wouldn’t show itself. He even came the next morning to search again. Figuring it was most likely right there close by in the dry sand, Barry found TheRingFinders.com and gave me a shout. I met him at the site and after moving some benches to get some “swinging room” I went to work with gridding the area around their table. After a few coins and junk signals, I got a sweet and solid 22 on my Equinox 900 display. One short scoop and this beautiful ring was back in the sunshine. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Ethan removed his ring and placed it into his shirt pocket for safekeeping. Later, he bent over to pick something up and his ring fell out into the dry sand. I got the call for help while driving close by, but, didn’t have my detector with me. Headed home, grabbed my gear, my wife, and headed back out into the Saturday afternoon beach traffic. My wife dropped me off and continued to circle for a parking spot while I headed to the search area. Ethan and his wife spotted me as  I spotted them, and they waved me over a small section of beach where they believed the ring to be hiding. After getting the low down on how the ring was lost and the description of the ring, I started to grid. first target sounded real good, and a few seconds later, my pin pointer had zeroed in on the target. Sure enough, Ethan’s ring was now found at the same time my wife found a parking spot!  A pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.

Aaron was body surfing when a wave blew over his head and ruthlessly stripped him of his gold necklace. Aaron realized it immediately and tried to recover it, but, at the same time, the lifeguards were telling everyone to leave the water due to a large rip current. Reluctantly, Aaron left the water and contemplated what to do to get it back. An online search brought him to TheRingFinders.com and my contact info. When he called, I got the situation and made a plan to conduct a search early the next morning to take advantage of the -1.1 low tide. My buddy Cris and I met Aaron at the site at 3:45am and divided up the search area after Aaron got us a starting point. I started gridding east/west working my way south. while Cris did a north/south grid. After some time passed without much in the way of targets, I went back to my starting point and started going north. After a few passes and at the west end of one pass in as deep a surf as I dared, I got a nice solid 12 on my Equinox 900. Two scoops later and I had the target. I grabbed the lump still buried in the sand of my scoop and headed out of the surf to see what it was. It felt good, but, without my headlamp turned on at the time, I wanted to get out of the water and take a look before I let go of it. I walked out toward Cris who had his headlamp on and revealed what I had found. Sure enough, it was a gold looking chain. A quick flush in the water to remove the sand and we had Aaron’s beautiful gold necklace in hand. Needless to say, Aaron was a very happy man and thanked us profusely. A pleasure to meet you Aaron and thank you for the generous reward.

Sara had tied her ring to some straps on her beach bag before going into the water. When she returned, she grabbed her bag and headed for the stairs up to her house. Upon arriving up to the top of the cliff, she discovered the ring was no longer tied to her bag. She retraced her steps, but, the ring was nowhere to be seen. Sara contacted me asking for help, so, I grabbed my gear, my wife, and headed for the location. Sara escorted us through the condo complex and down the steep cliff steps to the beach, and then across a couple hundred feet of sand to where she had first set her bag. I usually like to start at ground zero in my book, and work my way away from there as necessary. Even though we could still see her footprints and the exact path she took, it might still take a while to cover all that ground depending on where the ring slipped off. I didn’t want to even think about having to hunt the steep cliff and under it’s stairs. As it turned out, it took maybe 12 seconds! First pass, maybe 6 feet, and my first target was Sara’s ring. Way to go getting me on the X Sara! A happy Sara couldn’t believe how quickly it was found. She then escorted us back up the cliff steps and gave us a thankful farewell. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the generous reward.

Nina was participating in a beach game at Marine St. when her engagement ring came off and disappeared into the dry sand. Everyone took a look for it, but, it eluded all efforts to be found. Nina found TheRingFinders.com and contacted me for help. I arrived shortly after and actually found a parking spot. Nina met me there and directed us to the search area. Withing a couple of minutes, a pull tab and a quarter later, I got a nice solid 18 on my Equinox 900. A gentle probe with my pin pointer and I had located what was giving me that nice sound. Her ring was soon up with the living and back on her finger. A pleasure to meet you Nina and thank you for the reward.

Thais, took off both of her rings and put them in a shoe before going out in the water. Good idea! Forgetting that they were in the shoe when leaving, not so good. As you might expect, the shoes were picked up by her spouse Syd and the rings ended up falling out and into the soft dry sand. What to do….leaving at 6am the next morning just 13 hours from then…..so, off to the internet for advice. TheRingFinders.com website to the rescue. I got the call from Syd about 4:30pm about a lost “ring”, grabbed my gear, and hit the rush hour traffic to the North Island Navy Base visitors parking to meet her. We then drove to the beach and walked a couple hundred yards to a distraught Thais guarding the likely drop zone. A couple of short passes later, I got a nice solid 8 on my Equinox 900. Not knowing at the time that more than one ring was lost, I said that this could be the ring, or, some foil. A probe with the pin pointer, and grab with my hand brought a beautiful wedding band out into the sunshine. I thought we were done….not. a second sweep just a foot away and I got a solid 13. I then popped out the even more beautiful engagement ring to Thais’s delight. I asked if there were more and was told no, that was it. They could now sleep easier that night and catch their plane in the morning without having to leave anything behind. A pleasure to meet you both, and thank you for the reward.

Ryan was out in the surf with his children when his wedding ring came up missing. He had tied it to some strings on his suit, but, they came undone and the ring was lost. No amount of looking would find a heavy ring once it hits the sand. A suggestion from a friend prompted Ryan to do an online search which brought him to TheRingFinders and my info. Since it was lost in the surf, I planned on searching during the lowest tide possible to increase the odds of a successful recovery. That meant a search starting at 3am. Ryan wasn’t able to meet at that time, but, sent me a map and some details regarding where he thought the ring came off. After gridding an area bigger than a football field for about a couple of hours and only just one penny to show for it, I was begging to wonder whether someone had already scoured the area and found the ring. Nope, right at one of my turn around spots on my grid, I got a nice solid 21 on my Equinox 900 and after one scoop, had his ring in my scoop. The next day, my wife and I were going to be in the general area of where Ryan worked at a local fire department, so, we dropped it off to him. A pleasure to meet you Ryan, and thank you for the reward.

Roy was body surfing at La Jolla Shores when a wave stripped his necklace with 3 silver pendants off over his head. He had worn this necklace since childhood, so, it had lots of sentimental significance. Several days later, he contacted me for help finding it. Since that beach is probably the most detected beach in San Diego, I told Roy there was a good possibility that it had already been found, but, I was more than willing to try. We met at 11pm so I could benefit by a very low tide a couple of hours later. We walked out into the search area as I got the information I needed. He defined the search area as being between two lifeguard stands. Wow, that’s a big area. This beach is very shallow, so, when the tide drops a foot, it  can open up another 50 yards of wet sand. This was looking to be several football fields in size. We were just standing out in the middle discussing this when Roy wished me good luck and headed home to get some sleep before and early work day. I fired up my machine and walked maybe ten feet and got a banging 82 on my Equinox 900. One scoop and I had his necklace with pendants! One of most incredibly lucky finds I’ve ever had! This should have taken hours and hours to cover all this ground, if it was even still there. I called Roy back before he left and he was amazed that I had found it already (as was I). Roy will now sleep easier. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.

Shawn and his family were spending the day at the beach in Coronado. He had placed his tantalum wedding ring in the pocket on his beach chair for safekeeping. Later when they decided to leave, the chair was folded and the ring ended up in the dry sand. They searched and even contemplated getting a metal detector to find it, but, instead, they contacted me about conducting a search. Knowing that beach gets detected often, I planned on going there immediately, but, nobody was available at that time to show me the search area, so, I went by a map and some photos that were taken the previous day. It was mid afternoon on a summer day, so, the beach was fairly crowded. I just had to weave around between those camped there and just do the best I could until people started leaving. I was able to go by one photo to get a good line in one direction, so, I was able to grid a linear path. Without a cross photo or landmark, it was a pretty long path. 2 hours later and having expanded the search area significantly and much closer to the water than I expected the need to detect, I was walking next to a huge sand castle that a man was building. I swung my coil as close to him as I dared without being too intrusive and got a good signal. Dug down a couple of scoops and bingo! Shawn’s ring. Now the fun text and plans to reunite the ring with Shawn the next day. A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the reward.