Platinum Ring lost playing Volleyball … Newport Beach, CA.
Friday .. January 30, 2015
Peter is on vacation with his wife and two small children visiting friends here in Newport Beach. Yesterday afternoon he put his platinum wedding ring in a shirt pocket with his cell phone and closed it with a zipper. Later his wife asked him for the cell phone and he gave it to her forgetting to close the zipper. They walked over to the volleyball court about 150 yards away to have a serious game of volley ball. It wasn’t till a couple hours later that Peter remembered his ring and when he checked his pocket the zipper was open. The ring was not there. He and his friends searched into the night with no success. Returning to the house, he and his friends went to the internet searching for a metal detector to rent. Several calls and they were directed to check out TheRingFinders.com. He called this morning and I was able to meet him and his friends within an hour.
Peter told me all that had happened prior to realizing he had lost his ring. I did not want to think about the 150 yards of sand where he first unzipped his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He had thought enough to bring his wife’s ring, which was a match to his lost ring. I took a sample ID reading with my detector and it gave me A 12-23 reading. That will save me a little time, because that number should be what I’m looking for. Platinum is heavy and it may have stayed in his unzipped pocket till he got more active playing volleyball. I decided to start right under the volleyball net, because I had read somewhere on one of the metal detecting forums that most losses occur at the net ( I don’t always believe everything I read on the internet, but I could have started anywhere). Another good guess. I went 6 or 8 feet and there was a good signal in my earphones and the right ID number 12-24. Before scooping the target I called Peter over and showed him the numbers that showed up on my CTX 3030 screen. It was Peter’s ring and he and his friends all celebrated the find. It is not unusual to find a ring in the first few minutes, but this was a possible 2 or 3 hour search. We spent a little time to show his son how the metal detector works. His son kept burying the ring and I would locate it so he could hear the sound. Then his son would dig the ring. It was hard to tell Peter’s son that we couldn’t play hide and find the ring all day. Another ring returned, helping to make their vacation one to remember.
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.