Wedding Ring Lost in Sand .. Belmont Shores, CA. .. Found
March 25, 2015
Eric called about 1pm asking to rent a metal detector. I explained to him about the cost of renting and how far away the nearest detector shop is located.
He told me that he was sure where the titanium ring was located. He was in Belmont Shores Penensula at the beach. After talking to him about how I could help him find his ring and show him how the metal detector works. I actually thought I would let him use my detector while I stood by. When I arrived he told me that he had been arguing with his wife of three months , Josselyn. In the heat of the moment he tossed his wedding band over the 4 ft. block wall into the sand on the other side. He said, as he was doing it he thought it would be easy to find. After three hours of searching the sand he went to his smart phone locating TheRingFinders.com .
When I got to the location he showed me an area of approximately 50×50 ft. where he thought it to be. Then he said they had to be somewhere by 3 pm. It was going to be a little more difficult than I expected. This was not a situation where we could do a detector demonstration. I decided not to waste time. So I set up close to the wall in the center, planning to do a spiral grid. I started swinging and within 3 ft. got a good signal 3 inches deep. I called Eric over to let him hear the signal before retrieving the metal under my search coil. When I dug into the sand with my scoop there was Eric’s ring.
Both Eric and Josselyn were elated and thankful. It was a pleasure to help them.
Sarah and her husband had spent the day at Laguna Beach. The weather has been awesome, sunny and temperatures in the mid 80’s. They left about 2pm to get on the road before traffic got too bad. Thirty minutes down the road Sarah realiz
ed she did not have her wedding ring set. Two very special rings that she has worn for over 25 years. Her and her husband had recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last week. She knew that she had put the rings in the cup holder of her beach chair while putting on sunscreen. There was a possibility that the rings were in the sand where they had been sitting. Returning to the beach and sifting through the sand with their fingers with no success . Sarah Google searched “how to find a ring in the sand” . Up popped a link to TheRingFinders with my contact information. I was in my car about 8 miles away, but it took about 20 – 25 minutes to get to her location. Just as I pulled up Sarah’s husband found the larger ring. I was able to locate the smaller ring after a few swings of my CTX3030 minelab metal detector. It was a weak signal which may have been because it was in a vertical position. It may have been buried a little deeper because they had been moving around a lot of sand doing their search. What’s most important is Sarah has both of her very special rings back on her finger, hopefully for another 25 years. Sarah commented how her smart phone and the internet worked to bring us together. I agree, I have the metal detecting equipment and know how to use them, but the smart phones and internet makes these recoveries happen.
I received the call at about 3:30pm while detecting at Huntington Beach. It took me awhile to walk a half mile to my car, but I was able to me Alexis and Andrew at 5pm. We talked about the circumstances leading to the loss of the ring. I explained to them how my equipment works. Some people think metal detectors can find things several feet from the coil. Other people do not believe the work for such small items as rings. I knew it was possible to search the long walk back to the parking lot, but the best place to start would be where she picked up her blouse. Sometimes other persons move an item containing the ring or keys not knowing something was hidden inside. I set up an area to grid search about 40’x30′.. Making six passes parallel to the beach with out success, I setup my CTX 3030 to beach mode – all metal and began a cross grid. The next move would have been the long walk back to the parking area. (time consuming and the sun was setting). Three 30 foot passes to and from the water I got a nice 12-02 signal. Calling Alexis over to see the signal and hear the sound, I told her this is your ring and I scooped it. It was a beautiful ring. She dropped to her knees in tears of joy. Andrew also came over to thank me telling me that he had all but given up on ever seeing their ring again. It was a great day and I got another lesson of humility. It is a game of inches and it pays to cross check.
Jason called me Saturday evening from home in Corona, Calif. asking if I could help him. His friend had told him about TheRingFinders. He noticed his wedding ring missing after six hours of doing chores around his large property. Jason had spent a day and a half retracing all his activities in search of his wedding band. He lives on a large piece of property and had been doing a lot of work in almost every part of his yard. Almost everything he had been doing could have caused his ring to slip from his finger. He was taking down Christmas lighting decorations from his two story house, fences and trees. Dealing with hundreds of feet of cords coiling them up then putting them in storage boxes. He also took the Christmas tree from the house cutting off all the limbs to put them in large trash containers. On top of all that work he spend time cleaning his pool. All these activities were done without gloves and all these activities were the type of movements that would cause a ring to slip off a finger.
