Sterling Silver Wedding Ring Lost In The Sand, Found With A Metal Detector, At Goochโs Beach, Kennebunk, Maine
๐โโ๏ธ ๐
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐: ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐! ๐๐
The call to action can arrive at any moment, and on Tuesday, July 21st, late in the morning, a text message popped up on my phone from a client named Kate. The message read: “Hello, I lost a ring this morning on Goochโs beach. Would you be able to look for it? I believe it is in front of this house in the sand.” Along with the message was a photo of a beach house with its address right there on the Kennebunk coast. ๐ฑ๐ก
I immediately called Kate back to get the crucial details. She explained that she had been out enjoying the morning surf. Before hitting the waves, she took off her precious Sterling Silver Wedding Ring and tucked it safely inside her shirt pocket. Once she was finished surfing, she gathered up her beach gear, packed up, and headed homeโcompletely forgetting the ring was still loose in her pocket. It wasn’t until she arrived home that reality hit, and she realized the ring was gone. ๐๐คฆโโ๏ธ
๐บ๏ธ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
I told Kate I would absolutely go search for it, but when it comes to shifting beach sand, a little bit of strategy goes a long way. To pinpoint the location as accurately as possible, I pulled up a Google Earth aerial view of the house and the beach area directly in front of it. ๐ฅ๏ธ๐ฆ
Using the image, I drew two specific boxes directly in the sand:
* ๐ฅ A Red Square positioned closer to the high tide line.
* โฌ A Black Square positioned up higher, near the seawall.
I sent the marked-up photo back to Kate and asked which color zone matched where she had been sitting. Kate replied: “Red. I am fairly sure it is in the sand but there is a chance it could be on the sidewalk.” ๐ฏ๐ถโโ๏ธ
With a clear target area locked in, I told Kate that Cheryl and I were on our way. We immediately loaded up the metal detecting gear and hit the road, heading straight for Gooch’s Beach in Kennebunk, just across the river from Kennebunkport. ๐๐จ
๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐
Once Cheryl and I arrived at Gooch’s Beach, we didn’t take any chances. We started with a thorough visual search up and down the sidewalk and the street area, just in case it had dropped on the pavement. No luck. ๐๏ธ๐ฃ๏ธ
Next, it was time to hit the sand. I stepped down onto the beach and established my search boundaries, working from a flagpole just south of the distinctive yellow beach house over to some surfboards sitting on the beach just to the north. I snapped a few photos of the setup and messaged them to Kate to confirm. She looked at the pictures and told me the ring should be parallel to those surfboards, lying somewhere in the sand.
Knowing the layout, I estimated I could sweep the entire designated area in about 15 minutes. I fired up the metal detector and equipped my largest coil, the M15, to cover the ground as quickly and efficiently as possible. I locked into a tight, systematic grid search across the “red square” zone. I covered every single inch of itโbut the detector remained completely silent. No ring. โ๐๏ธ
๐งฑ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Even though it was technically outside of Kate’s suspected drop zone, I decided to extend my search right up to the massive seawall. Now, in the metal detecting world, there is a funny truth: a detectoristโs biggest enemy is actually metal! When you are searching for non-ferrous targets like silver or gold, an extremely large ferrous metal object can completely mask out the smaller target, making it completely invisible to the machine unless you proceed with extreme caution. ๐ก๏ธโก
Because this seawall is constructed entirely of metal, I knew my massive M15 coil wouldn’t be able to get very close without overloading. I gave it a shot anyway, creeping as close to the barrier as the large coil would allow. Ten minutes later, I still had absolutely nothing.
I decided it was time to call Kate back to narrow down her exact path. I asked her: “Which set of stairs did you use to exit the beach? The ones to the south or the north of the yellow house?” I figured I would just grid search her footprints right up the steps.
I was literally STUNNED by her reply.
Kate calmly told me she hadn’t used any stairs at all. Instead, she had pulled herself up and vaulted straight over the seawall directly in front of the yellow house! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ๐คฏ
That seawall stands between 4.5 to 5 feet tall! I chuckled and told Kate, “Well, it must be nice to be young and agile! There is absolutely no way I would have even attempted that jump!” ๐งโโ๏ธ๐ฅ
๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
That one piece of new information changed absolutely everything. I realized the ring didn’t drop while she was walking to an exitโit likely launched out of her shirt pocket the exact second she leaped over that wall.
I had already searched near the wall with my large M15 coil, but I knew I could get significantly closer to that heavy metal barrier if I switched to my smallest setup. I had Cheryl run back to the vehicle to grab my small M8 elliptical coil. We swapped them out on the fly. To navigate the electrical interference from the wall, I would need to use a very short, highly disciplined, and deliberate swing. ๐ ๏ธ๐
I restarted the search right at the base of the wall, keeping my swings under tight control. Within just five minutes, the machine let out a beautiful, unmistakably loud high toneโexactly what I had been praying to hear! ๐โจ
The target was resting a mere foot and a half to two feet away from the massive metal wall. I pulled out my pinpointer, locked onto the exact signal location, and used my fingers to carefully brush away the loose sand.
Magically, a gleaming Sterling Silver Wedding Ring appeared out of the grains! UNREAL! I had found it! ๐๐
๐ก ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
Cheryl and I were absolutely ecstatic, and we immediately caught the whole recovery on video from above to send to Kate. When her phone rang with the clip, she called us back instantly, completely over the moon with joy! It all made sense nowโwhen Kate cleared that 5-foot wall in a single bound, the momentum sent the ring flying right out of her shirt pocket. ๐โโ๏ธ๐จ
As luck would have it, Kate lives in Saco, the exact same town Cheryl and I call home. We made quick arrangements to meet up and safely return the family heirloom as soon as we got back into town. ๐๐
As I walked off Gooch’s Beachโusing the actual stairs and definitely not trying to play Superman like KateโI was smiling from ear to ear. If I hadn’t asked that one crucial question about the stairs, or if I hadn’t brought my full arsenal of specialized coils, that ring might still be buried out there today. The stars were definitely aligned! ๐โจ
We met up with Kate back in Saco, and seeing her face light up with excitement as her wedding ring went back where it belonged was the perfect end to the day. As hugs and smiles were exchanged, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself thinking, “How on earth did she jump over that wall?”
I truly have the absolute best job in the world. I love my job! โค๏ธ๐ฆ
“๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ, ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฎ, ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐จ ๐๐ฌ!” ๐
L๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐จ๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ?
๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ญ! ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ฒ:
* ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ฌ: ๐๐๐-๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐
* ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ฅ: ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง๐@๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ฅ.๐๐จ๐ฆ
