Scott Foss, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 5

Max had been playing volleyball with some friends at a North Coast beach. He was preparing to hit the ball when he felt the ring loosen on his finger but it was too late to react and he felt the ring fly off upon contact with the ball. He knew the ring had to be close by but after hours of fruitless searching he and his friends were forced to give up. After also unsuccessfully trying to find a metal detector to rent he said he was “very happy” to find me on the internet. We met up and after a 15 minute hike we found ourselves on one of the beautiful, remote beaches this whole coast is known for. I know this area very well having explored and fished this coastline extensively for many years . . it was very nice to be back..

Max told me he and his wife were from Belarus, Russia and had purchased the rings in Europe before moving here. The ring obviously carried a huge sentimental value for them both, they had all traveled a long way together and I was determined to keep that journey going. Max located the markers he had put down earlier in the week when the ring had been lost. Searching out in a square/spiral pattern I was 10 minutes into the search when I got a solid hit. The reading was somewhat different than what I was expecting but you have to check every signal on a search so I scraped the sand down about 2″ with my shoe. . . when the sun caught the band poking out all I could do was smile. I looked at Max and when he caught sight of the glint he couldn’t get to it fast enough. The journey continues . . .

The view

I got a call from Drew during my lunch break last Monday night. He had lost his ring into the sand after surfing that afternoon. I could hear in his voice that the loss was weighing heavily on him. He was especially concerned that the tide was coming in and he feared what that might mean. After discussing the details of the loss, the location, etc. I told him he could rest assured that the ring was not going anywhere. Drew was not going to be able to meet me there the following morning so he gave me a great description of the location with landmarks. He also said he’d leave a marker on the beach at the last known location of the ring.

I arrived at the beach first thing the next day with all the gear nescessary should this turn out to be a hard battle. All I could think of was how badly I wanted to find this ring and turn this around  for Drew. I found his marker, a pile of stones, and got set up for the search. I keyed off of the marker and planned on gridding toward the incoming tide as far as possible then work my way back inland. I set the coil of the detector on the sand and ‘”bing” I insatntly get a signal. This is not uncommon as there is a LOT of trash under the sand. After checking out the signal the information said this looked like it could be exactly what I was searching for. I wouldn’t even allow myself to think I could be so fortunate as to set my coil down directly on the ring  but as I pawed at the sand, down about 3″-4″ lay the beautiful gold band Drew had described.

Going home . .

It was a lazy late afternoon on a beautiful day here in Santa Cruz and we had just gotten done enjoying some fresh-caught halibut when I recieved a call that a wedding ring had been lost that day on New Brighton beach. After a quick pit stop to assemble my gear I met Brian at the beach parking lot. On our way to the exact location he explained to me that both an engagement ring AND a wedding had been lost. The rings had been forgotten in a beach chair cupholder and been cast into the sand when the chair was folded . . an unfortunately common mistake. The engagement ring had somehow been found but after a frantic search the wedding ring remained hidden. The couple was thinking clearly and realized the blind search may do more harm than good and paced off the last, closest known location to a landmark. This was very good thinking and would prove invaluable soon enough. I was using a Whites 10″ DD coil as it would give good coverage and depth and work well in what I anticipated would be a low-trash site. After Brian put me on the spot it was simply a matter of thoroughly gridding my way out . . 15 minutes later, on target # 4 this beautiful white gold wedding band came out of hiding from 4″ down in the sand. The perfect end to an awesome day.

The best part . . another happy smile

The request for this search actually came yesterday morning. A woman’s gold wedding band had been lost on the boardwalk beach two days prior and the owner lived out of town. Time is always a critical factor but it had already been a couple days and I didn’t have the time to make a decent search before work so I planned to hit it the following day (today). As fate would have it another ring search request came in that evening (yesterday) at the same beach. This one was an emergency as the tide was about to cover the area so I made a mad dash out there after work. Later that evening after a successful recovery, I decided to search the area a few hundred feet away for the other ring. I only had the information from the initial phone call to go by but I thought I had a pretty good fix on the location. After searching the area thoroughly for about an hour I had nothing but some spare change and trash. Finding lost rings takes a solid plan and execution but perseverance is just as important . . I wasn’t giving up. After a follow-up call I discoverd that I hadn’t been in the right area after all. I’ve never been so happy to be proven wrong so I got my gear together to hit it early this morning before work.

I located the likely area only to find that the beach had been mechanically “combed”  just prior to my arrival . . this could prove disasterous. I proceeded to hunt the area thoroughly for 45 minutes with no luck. I had covered a pretty large area and figured I had probably searched far enough out. I was trying to decide whether to continue out further in the same direction or to cross grid the same area 90 degrees to my original grid. I decided to search one more swath in the same direction and 10′ in I hit a solid signal. From the information my detector was giving me I didn’t think it was too likely that it was the ring but you have to dig ALL signals on a ring hunt so I sliced my sifter into the dry sand. By the time I looked down into the scoop the loose dry sand had all but sifted through and there, in a little sand at the bottom lay a beautiful gold wedding band shining in the morning sun . . I was stunned. I had been told that it was made in India and one of a kind and it definitely looked special. After a phone call the happy couple drove up from Monterey and met me at the boardwalk. When I showed them the exact spot where the ring had been found they said that was very close to where they had been although it was a good 15-20′ away from where I had figured the most likely spot was from our previous phone conversations. This is why we always try to meet up with the owners at the location as it’s invaluable in determining the spot it was lost as closely and accurately as possible . . and that’s everything. After some pictures and a lot of smiles we parted ways. Two days, two ring hunts and two successful recoveries, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

When the call came in to search for a lost wedding ring at the Boardwalk I was still 2 hours away from the end of a long work day but that doesn’t matter when someone needs your help. The Monday night crowd was getting heavy but I eventually managed to find parking and meet up with Mary by The Big Dipper. She pointed me towards her husband and he showed me the area where he thought it had been lost. The big problem was it was near the water with a high, still-building tide. That, coupled with the dumping shorepound meant a large part of the possible search area was already unreachable. I told him I would search the area I could as best as I could manage under the conditions. A South swell was coming in, they’re notorious for having long lulls between sets but when the lull ends you’d better not get caught off guard. I searched one swath at the top of the steep beach with one eye always on the water. My second run was going to be closer to the water but some young people had happened to come and stand right in that spot so I decided to search one more swath further away from the ocean. About 6′ along I got a signal of 22. That’s a pulltab almost every time, guaranteed ! This time it wasn’t. Three inches down in the wet sand (the waves were already washing over this area when the sets hit) lay this beautiful, white gold herring bone wedding band. As it turned out this was the first day of their vacation, I was so happy that it ended up turning out alright for them. After hugs, pictures and even some video I left them to enjoy their vacation, not even remembering my workday.

Not the ring I was searching for . . but a nice surprise !

Brett, keeping family harmony on his lucky day.

My co-worker and my “office”.

Every lost item hunt is unique and one thing I’ve learned is that you have to be ready for anything . . my latest hunt brought that message home clearly. Late one evening two weeks ago, I received a search request from a young woman who’se husband had lost his wedding ring in the shorebreak at Rio Del Mar beach. She was understandably upset so I got geared up for what I knew was going to be a difficult search two days later. The afternoon the ring had been lost also coincided with the arrival of our first significant South swell of the season so I chose to wait an extra day for the swell to drop. A powerful, deep South swell carries a lot of energy (I know personally as I had been surfing the same swell the previous day) and can complicate a water search as they can move a lot of sand . . fast. I arrived at first light so I could maximize my search time before heading to work. I chose my White’s Dual Field P.I. machine for the search but after four hours of disciplined, meticulous hunting the ring still remained hidden. I really wanted to find this one for the young couple who had lost it so I went to work and planned to follow-up with another search the following day. The thick fog kept it too dark and delayed my start time an hour but after three more hours of hunting I had nothing to show for it besides a pocketful of trash, corroded zinc pennies and cold shriveled feet. At least now I was certain the ring was not in the area it was dropped as I had thoroughly hunted approx. 6000 sq.ft. in a tight grid 3 times from different directions. I determined that the last area of possibility lay further down into the water. This area was impossible to hunt effectively as the shorebreak was relentless and powerful so I planned to come back the following week when there would be very low, minus tides. I arrived at the location again at first light, hopeful that success lay just a little further down the beach. After 45 minutes I got a solid double signal. I was intrigued as a ring (and unfortunately numerous trash items) can have that signal characteristic. I scooped down, dumped the wet blob onto the sand and spread it out with my cold foot. Seeing a glint of shiny gold, I reached down and retrieved the item. I cleaned it off and there in my hand lay a beautiful, large men’s gold band . . but it WASN’T the one I was searching for !! Revitalized I continued my search, knowing I was in the “gold zone” . . I was certain the ring I was looking for was going to reveal itself in the next swing of my coil. Sadly after three more hours, no success. The cold Pacific Ocean wasn’t ready to give back the ring. It’s a hard pill to swallow, I take these searches very seriously and personally. You are quite literally these people’s last hope and you want so badly to help get the lost item returned . . the weight of responsibility feels as if it is squarely on your shoulders. Today, this find was not to be but the story doesn’t end there. The tide had pushed in far enough to make continuing the search pointless so I decided to hunt the dry sand for a little while till I had to head to work. I figured I might scrape together a few coins for gas money and at the very least, warm my feet up. I randomly swung my coil over a few areas of the HUGE beach and, after a few minutes, up pops a new smart phone from 3-4″ down in the sand. Surprises are always fun so smiling to myself, I carefully cleaned the phone off. It appeared to be a recent drop because it was in very good shape so I packed it away with the intent of posting the find on Craigslist in the hope of returning it to the owner someday. I was just about to exit the beach when a young man spotted my detector, came up and asked “did you happen to find a cell phone out there . .” My jaw almost dropped and after I had him describe it I realized this WAS the phone ! The odd’s are incalculable. The fact that I happened to put my coil over THAT spot in my short search on such a huge beach was 1 in a million, then to happen to run across the owner at the last second . . . I told Brett it was his lucky day and suggested he buy a lottery ticket. He told me that finding the phone was going to save him from his mother’s wrath . . I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head. Success is where you find it, what an awesome day ! You have to be prepared for anything on a search . . .

The beautiful, inscribed ring . . going home.

Steve contacted me late in the afternoon on July 4th, he had dropped his wedding ring in the sand on the Boardwalk beach here in Santa Cruz. That’s normally a 3 minute drive from my home but unfortunately I was out of the area at that moment. The fact that I wouldn’t be able to get out there until well after dark, combined with the realities of the crowds and mayhem that would be inundating that area forced my hand. We agreed to meet out there first thing in the morning. I arrived at 7a.m. to find Steve working with another detectorist who had happened by prior to my arrival. That was all good, the more hands the better usually but after one look at the equipment being used I was privately concerned that more harm than good may have been done. The other detector was a very low-end model with a coil on it that wasn’t significantly larger than a bottlecap . .  seriously around 3″ in diameter. That setup was going to be lucky to find a gold ring with stones even on the surface, let alone at any depth but my real concern was the holes that had been dug in the most likely area . . the ring may have been “dug under” even deeper in their zeal but I kept my concerns to myself. Steve was obviously very concerned already and I didn’t want to add to that burden. Luckily, he had been very prudent in keeping tabs on exactly where he had seen it drop so I had high hopes of recovery. Steve wasn’t showing it but I could see he was already starting to doubt a happy outcome and I really wanted to come through for him. I had my White’s MXT Pro mounted up with the 10″DD coil which I figured should get my search signal deep enough even if the ring had been driven down. I started my search grid centered on the high probability zone. A few minutes in I had only retrieved one partial pull tab but soon after that I got a good, solid signal. There, in the sand about 4″ down lay the beautiful gold band and diamonds. Contrasted against the sand in the overcast, grey morning

The happy owner, still in shock . . I had to remind him to smile !

light it looked stunning ! I glanced at Steve and the smile that lit up his face the exact moment he saw it was equally as brilliant. Those moments are immeasurable and priceless. Steve and his wife’s July 4th celebration may have come a day later this year but it’s one I’m sure they will remember long after the others have faded.

The happy couple and an equally stoked Ring Finder

The quarry

I recieved a call yesterday evening from a gentleman who had lost his wedding band, apparently while gardening earlier that day. From his brief description of the circumstances surrounding the loss it appeared this was definitely findable and could possibly even be an easy hunt. If I’ve learned one thing though after ringhunting for awhile now its that you never go off of first impressions from descriptions over the phone. This proved true once again on this search. I arrived to find two irregularly shaped areas and one long narrow area as the possible locations of the lost ring. The areas contained a multitude of physical as well as metallic obstacles to contend with. The two irregular areas had deep tree roots, a water meter box as well as deep plants and shrubs bordering it. The straight narrow path had gopher cages, vent screens and multiple other metal objects that would make searching it very difficult to do thoroughly.  On top of that the owner had been battling some tenacious weeds deep into some muddy ground so this ring was possibly substantially deeper than most recent surface drops, that would add another difficult dimension to this search. I grabbed my White’s MXT Pro and hooked up my elliptical 6×10 DD coil. I knew the signal/search characteristics as well as the physical shape (oval) of this coil would make it the best suited choice for this location. It wouldn’t let me down. I searched all the areas as thoroughly as possible and, except for a few pieces of “trash” . . nothing. I was going to switch to a bigger coil but, following the first rule in searching I decided to go over the areas once more but from a different direction. I put my coil down right adjacent to the water meter box and got a partial hit. After maneuvering my coil into the optimum position I was able to pull out a solid repeating signal of 24 on my meter . . 2″ down lay the ring. The first time I had checked that spot the large amount of metal in and around the water meter box had masked the ring with it’s overpowering signal. This time around, the new direction coupled with this coil’s particular characteristics gave me just enough to spot the elusive prey. Had the ring been a couple inches closer to the box this would’ve ended quite differently. After reuniting the extremely happy couple with their treasured item they informed me that their 10th wedding anniversary is this month and they were preparing to buy him a replacement. Three extremely happy people stood in the warm Santa Cruz sunshine, happy there was no need for that now.

In time for the upcoming 10th anniversary