Stan Ross, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 78 of 84

Lost Keys Found in Sand .. Newport Beach, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

 

 

Sunday .. May 3, 2015

It was a nice morning to go play with my metal detector at the beach before too many people get here. After a couple hours I stopped to talk to another detectorist as I was leaving. That’s when Nader walked up to both of us asking if we had found any car keys. I asked him if he had checked with the lifeguards and he had. Then I told him I was a member of TheRingFinders and had a lot of experience finding lost items at the beach. After asking him a few questions, Nader told me that he and his girlfriend had taken a walk on the beach at 2:30am. When they returned to the car he realized his car keys were missing.
I told him it was possible to find them because the area he laid out was not heavily hunted by other detectorist hunt and the beach cleaning machines do not work Sunday mornings. The other guy with a detector wanted to help with the search so we split the search area and began to grid the dry sand. Nader took off to search the pier and the parking lot. I did ask him to leave his phone number so I could contact him. I have had people ask me if I found an item and not been able to locate them after I found it later in the day. I always have my pen and paper with me.
After covering about a football field area of the beach, the keys showed up in my scoop. I called Nader to give him the good news. He was probably three blocks away, but he showed up breathless. I know he was surprised because he knew how far they walked last night. The keys could have been anywhere. It was a shot in the dark but Lady Luck was working in his favor today. Nader said he did not know that TheRingFinders existed, but he would tell all his friend about our group.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Gold Engagement Ring Found … Newport Beach, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Wednesday April 29, 2015 .. 6:30pm
Destiny and Carlos came to Newport Beach today to enjoy a day at the beach. Sometime after they set up their beach blanket Destiny stood up for a second brushing off sand off her hands. As she shook her hand her gold/diamond engagement ring went flying into the sand. She and Carlos spent more than two hours sifting sand through their fingers with no luck finding her ring.
Destiny took out her smart phone and googled “how to find a ring in the sand”. That was how she found TheRingFinders.com and our directory. When she called me I told her I was only 3 miles from her location, but it may take about 20 to 30 minutes because traffic is crazy with road construction on Pacific Coast Hwy. I asked them not to leave the location. It is sometimes hard to find the exact location once you leave.
When I arrived the sun was setting with a cool breeze. They were the only people on the beach. They looked worn out and were anxious to go home. I could see the doubt in there eyes, they were not quite sure if a metal detector could find the small gold ring.
I backed off from where she thought it was to get a few practice swings and set up the sensitivity on my detector. First target was a pull tab which sounds similar to a gold ring. Then a second sound that turned out to be Destiny’s ring. She said, ” I love that machine”.. It turned out to be a good day at the beach except for two hours of frustration running their fingers through the sand. It was a pleasure to be able to help this young couple.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Lost iPhone .. Venice Beach, CA. .. Found in Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Tuesday  April 28, 2015  .. 8am

Maria called me Tuesday morning asking for help to find her iphone that she lost in the sand Monday evening. She is from the Ukraine studying at Santa Monica college. Her phone contains a lot of information that is not backed up. She had been playing with her 2 sons very close to the Venice pier when the phone was lost. It is a high pedestrian traffic area making it possible that somebody had found it.
When I met Maria she told me that the phone had been found and turned into to main lifeguard headquarters. She was on her way to pick it up. I was glad that she would soon have it and all the important information it contained. She thanked me for coming. It is a beautiful day so I decided to do some detecting on this tourist beach before the sunbathers came out on the beach.
After about 30 minutes, Maria came walking up to me with a disappointing look on her face. The iphone at the lost and found was not her’s. We looked at the location that she thought it was lost. She pointed out an area about the size of basketball court. Part of it had been leveled out with a small beach tractor. I started at the lower end of where the tractor moved the sand. After two 30 foot passes with my CTX 3030 .. I got a signal that didn’t sound like anything very large, but that is normal for the CTX. I put my scoop into the dry sand gently as not to damage it. The first signal was Maria’s phone. You can see she was happy to have it back.
A bonus for the day was about two hours later when a older lady came up to me on the beach. She could not speak very good english, but I realized that she was Maria’s mother when she thanked me for finding her daughter’s iphone. Every search is different with different challenges. I love it.
imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Engagement Ring Found .. San Clemente State Beach, CA. .. In Sand

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

 

 

image

 

 

 

 

image

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cori and Drew’s Story … 4/18/15 … Califia St., San Clemente State Beach

So, Drew and I decided we would take a night to go watch the sunset at Calafia state beach in San Clemente (about 5 min drive from our house ) as a way to celebrate our engagement and get some time for just the two of us -kid-free woo hoo! Like always though, we are scrambling to gather a few items to bring (champagne, blanket, etc.) and rushing out the door to make it before the sun goes down while trying to say bye to the kids etc. We make it out the door and I even remembered my camera! When we get there I decided to put the self-timer on my camera, lay out the blanket and snap a few pics of us. I notice their is a lot of seaweed obnoxiously photo bombing us and to avoid having to Photoshop it later, I quickly start to brush it away with my hands far from our blanket where we are sitting. I continuously run to and from the camera to try to get a good shot with the self-timer.

As we are taking pictures, I suddenly notice the engagement ring is no longer on my finger!! Drew and I both panicked, retracing our steps frantically everywhere . Here we are, 15 minutes before the sun goes down , crowds of people on the beach, and we are searching for my ring. I start thinking hard , “Did I have it on before we left the house? Did it fall off in the sand? Did it fall off when I took off my sandals in the sand? “ etc. I start hearing my mother-in-laws nagging voice in my head “you should have worn it on your middle finger until you got it re-sized!” The ring was loose and too big and we hadn’t had a chance to get it resized yet.
Anyways, we searched the car, the camera bag , go back to the house , retraced all steps in the sand- NOTHING.
At this point its pitch black outside and we are freezing our butts off losing all hope that we will find it , the tide is starting to roll in and any sign of society has vanished, ha. Drew and I are both wearing helmets with lights on our heads , we rush to Big 5 to purchase a $140 metal detector , go back and pace back n forth with this little machine we have no idea how to use. Still- NOTHING
OKAY- Well, the look on Drews face- I mean seriously -I lost the ring – I also knew this was practically the same chances of finding a needle in a haystack. It is starting to set in and we are sitting in an empty beach parking lot losing hope, thinking we are just going to have to accept this as a loss .
I start to Google on my phone and discover that their are literally professional ring finders, I mean what? TheRingfinders.com , yes! I start to think “What are the chances they will even find it though? And how much are they going to charge, practically the price of the ring I bet . . “ It’s worth a shot though , I think to myself. I give a call to the one we found in our area, this sweet man is willing to drive 1.5 hours to us from his ‘Riverside Metal Detecting Contest.’ Ha. Yes, apparently there is such thing.
He arrives, this sweet man, with his $3,000 metal detecting equipment. Drew is looking at me like “ c’mon really? You think this guy is going to find it? “ All odds are against us at this point because its past beach curfew, hitting 11pm, the tide is rolling in strong and we are pooped. An officer comes and tells us we will need to leave shortly but that he can give us a little bit of time to look , he chuckles “Good luck!” while walking away.
Moments later, I hear his detector, my heart sinks, “Oh just tinfoil” he says . Still no luck. Suddenly, out of nowhere- he starts skimming an area and HE FINDS MY RING!!!! I swear- I never in a million years -thought it was possible AND if we had waited till morning to go back again and look- it would have washed away with the tide !
I am so beyond grateful! I jumped up and hugged him with tears down my face asking him over and over “HOW DID YOU FIND IT?!! I CANT BELIEVE YOU FOUND IT! OH. MY .GOSH!”
So I say to him , “OK- we now owe you big time! What do you charge for something like this?“ (Yes, you would think we would have asked him before but I guess it didn’t cross our minds because 1. We were frantic and desperate for any help 2. We couldn’t put a price on something this sentimental to us -not just materialistic)
He replies, “Well, I work on a reward system. You pay me what you can afford to give and what its worth to you for me to find it. And I give 15% of the proceeds to the children’s hospital”.
I mean seriously? Is this real? Drew and I look at each other – wow this is definitely a pay-it-forward experience.
And yes, we compensated him well for his incredible gift and generosity We are FOREVER grateful . 😉

 

PS.. I had started my grid in the area they had set up their blanket. I made about 5 passes from the rocks to the water about 30ft. in each direction. Asking Cori questions when she remembered moving the dried seaweed away from the photo background. I changed my grid pattern and made one pass along the top of the waterline where the seaweed was and dug the ring with a piece of tin foil in the scoop.

 

Tags:
Category:

Ring Lost in Surf … La Jolla Shores, CA. .. Found with Metal Detector

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

La Jolla Shores, CA. … Thursday 4/16/15 .. 12pm

Ring Lost in Surf … La Jolla Shores, CA. … Found with Metal Detector

Today we have a nice low tide about 2pm. This is a good time to detect on the beach in the wet sand without bothering sunbathers on the dry sand. I arrived at La Jolla Shores beach about noon. After about a half hour messing around the fire pits a man walked up to me asking me if I could help him find his ring. I told him I was a member of TheRingFinders and gave him my card with our website information. His name was FX which is short for a longer name. He is visiting from Seattle, WA. Earlier in he morning at hi tide he had been surfing when his gold wedding ring of 15 years slipped of his finger. He felt it slip off when he was in about knee deep water but it disappeared right away. FX walked me over to the location which he had remembered was directly in front of the lifeguard tower.
I told him that I had to work the area slow and thorough as this is a game of inches. If I miss it by an inch, it could take hours to find it. He just stood by with his smart phone reading TheRingFinders website. I made a long pass to the waterline then returned toward the beach. Just before turning around for my third pass I heard a good tone that I knew was gold. There under 2 inches of wet sand was FX’s gold wedding band. Another good memory for a vacation holiday. Also a great smile for me to remember. After a many years of finding rings for people I go by beaches remembering the people and their rings that I have found and returned. Making good memories for everybody is part of what we do.
imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Silver Ring Possibly lost in Sand .. Spring Break .. Newport Beach, CA. .. Recovered

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

 

Thursday April8, 2015

Jessie’s family is visiting Newport Beach from Texas. They have been staying in a condo on the beach with several friends and their kids hanging out enjoying our awesome sunny weather.
When Jessie called me she told me she had lost her ring the day before, but she was not sure when or where she lost it. The beachfront house they are staying in has sand right up to their front patio. She had spent most of the day in the sand with the younger kids. There was a time during the day that Jessie put sunscreen on the kids. She could not remember for sure if that was when it went missing.
When I got there I was lucky enough to get a parking space within 25 ft. of the sand. That is the first miracle. You have to know 43st. Newport Beach. As I returned a call to Jessie to let her know I was here, about four or five little girls started yelling Metal Detector Man.. They were part of the vacationers family. I only had to walk around the corner to meet Jessie. I set my detector answering a few questions of how it works. They asked how deep it would detect because they had spent several hours sifting through the sand yesterday and today. Because she wasn’t quite sure where or when it was lost, I said we can start out about 4 feet from the wall to eliminate that area. With about 15 people watching my every move, I started my grid search. First target one penny ( not a silver sound), then a piece of tinfoil ( closer to a gold tone) , the last sound could have been a quarter. It was not a quarter, but it was Jessie’s silver ring. Found within the first five feet probably 5 minutes. It surprised everybody including me. It took longer to get pictures of the ring and Jessie with the ring for this blog and our book of smiles. It is a good feeling for me to know that their vacation was not spoiled by the loss of a sentimental keepsake.
They had called a friend of mine who told them to look me up in TheRingFinders.com. I was on the beach in Laguna when she called but it’s less than ten miles and it took about 45 minutes to drive to their place. It’s only about three miles from my home.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

I Found Chris Turner’s Platinum Diamond Ring .. Huntington Beach, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Hyatt Regency Resort  … Huntington Beach, Calif. … Monday ..  April 6, 2015

I received a call from a lady who said they had lost her husband’s ring Easter Sunday in the sand while staying at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Huntington Beach. She told me her husband’s name is Chris Turner and he was in a meeting. He would contact me soon. For a second I thought the call was some sort of prank, because the founder and CEO of TheRingFinders is also Chris Turner. It was just a coincidence. I told her I would not wait for him to get out of the meeting, because this is one of the most heavily hunted areas of Huntington Beach by recreational metal detectorists, especially the day after spring break. I would go to the general area and wait for Chris’s phone call.
After arriving I walked out on the beach to the towel line. I could see that the beach sifting machines had already passed through this part of the beach. They are very thorough, but sometimes they set up their machines for surface cleaning allowing them to travel faster covering more area.
Chris called saying he was on his way to show me the exact location. When he walked on the beach I was gridding about 50 feet away from where they had set up yesterday. He directed me over to the location and told me that he had given his wedding band to his wife to put in her coin purse. On the way back to their car he asked her for the ring. It was not in the purse. They went back spending 2 hours searching the sand. Possibly they moved enough sand that the ring sunk deep enough that it was missed by the sifter. I made about three or four 25 ft. passes and got the beautiful solid sound of precious metal. Scooped up Chris’s beautiful ring that he has worn for 16 years of marriage. Smiles and high fives from the other people on the beach. Then a big man hug from Chris. It was hard to keep a positive attitude in this search because I know this beach well. Just as we were taking a few photos for this blog, here comes one of the regular Detectorist that work this beach. I was surprised we didn’t see more. Chris got on the phone to give his wife the good news. Then on his way back to work.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

White Gold and Diamond Engagement Ring Found .. Malibu, CA.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. #2      ….  Saturday   April 4, 2015

I was at Pt. Dume State Beach on a ring search for Rachel. While waiting for people to leave the towel line search area. A lady walked up to me asking if she could use my services. This is what I call ” A Walk Up.” Her friend Joselyn had dropped her wedding ring set in the sand while putting on sunscreen. She was standing up when she dropped the two rings. ( less than 4 ft. ) The two ladies and their husbands searched for over two hours with their fingers finding only the smaller wedding band. They were amazed that the ring evaded their attempts to find it with their fingers in such a small area of sand.
Joselyn’s husband took off with the car to go into town trying to purchase a metal detector.
I walked over to the location in the sand near the parking lot. There was so much electrical noise interference I started to panic. I just thought I would listen to all those false signals hoping that my Minelab CTX 3030 could give me a solid signal. I got a good different sound and put my scoop into the sand. Up popped the beautiful engagement ring. Smiles and hugs made it a special occasion for all. Joselyn allowed me to set the ring back in the sand to take a photo, but she said she was afraid that it might get lost in the sand again. Her friend was glad they found the ring because she had to get to the airport for her flight back to England.
I went back to wait for people to leave so I could finish searching for the other lady’s engagement ring.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Platinum Diamond Wedding Band Recovered … Malibu, Calif.

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. #1    ……  Saturday April 4, 2015

Rachel’s husband Joel contacted me Saturday morning asking for help to find a wedding ring set that was lost by his wife in the sand Friday at Pt. Dume State Beach, Malibu, CA. I asked them to get to the location to secure the area that the rings were lost. It is spring break and with the great weather the beaches have been crowded. I was on the road soon after the phone call but it would be about 11am before we could meet up.
After arriving I met Rachel and she explained that she had taken off her wedding ring set off, setting them on her towel while applying sunscreen. Later in the day she picked up her towel shaking the sand off. It wasn’t until after they got back home that she realized that her rings had to be in the sand at the beach.
I started to grid search the immediate location where they had spread their beach gear. I was racing to search the part of the beach not claimed by other beach goers. Twenty feet away from them I found the platinum wedding band. Normally the larger engagement ring would be very close by, but it did not show up. We were right at the most used part of the beach the towel line, next to the lifeguard tower and close to the restrooms. I still could not get to all the sand area it could have been thrown when she shook the towel. After waiting 3 hours for people to leave the un searched sand, I could not find the larger diamond ring. It was hard to tell Rachel it was not there, but I know that I covered the area thoroughly and it was not there. It is very likely that somebody had found it, there are many people that work these beaches with detectors everyday this time of year. Especially the towel line. Rachel did tell me that the ring I found was very sentimental to her because it had diamonds from both her mother and grandmothers rings. She had worn these rings over sixteen years.
Normally I could search that type location in about one hour. I stayed more than 4-1/2 hours till I felt I had gridded the whole area in more than three directions in all metal mode with the highest sensitivity I could set my detector. Later I called a local detectorist to asked if he knows of any recent find from this beach. We also posted a lost ring add on Craiglist in hopes that someone has found the other ring.
This was a disappointing search for me, because I’m used to finding both rings when a set has been lost. I guess this is what they call a bitter – sweet type feeling. Rachel’s 11 year old daughter was so happy after finding the wedding band, she said that she made two wishes that morning. One wish was that we could find the wedding ring .. She said she couldn’t tell us the other wish, because it would ruin the wish.

imageimage

Tags:
Category:

Engagement Ring Lost in Sand .. Newport Beach, CA. .. Found

  • from Newport Beach (California, United States)
Contact:

March 26, 2015 … Thursday

I had a ring search earlier in the day at a park. When I got home to rest up I got a call from the same people telling me that they found the 2 platinum and diamond rings in their sofa. Five minutes later I got a call from Jessica who was at Newport Beach which is 4 miles away from my location. Jessica sounded very distressed that her rose gold engagement ring was lost in the sand. She had placed it in her beach bag for safe keeping. When she went to take towel out of the bag the ring went into the super soft fine sand.
Traffic and parking was a bit of a problem but I was able to meet her within a half hour. I asked them to stay in the area they lost the ring. They had the whole area staked out with towels and other beach items. I asked her what type of metal it was and if it was small or large. It took a few minutes to find it. I was surprised that it was such a broken signal. Rose Gold is an alloy and it was very petite which made it harder to detect. I know that this part of the beach will be sifted first thing every morning by the dreaded beach cleaning machines. If she waited a day to call me the ring would have been lost forever.
The smile on Jessica’s face and her two girl friend made it another beautiful day.imageimage

Tags:
Category: