Mark Rubey, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 15 of 20

Andrea removed her rings and placed them in a sweater pocket while at a picnic with her friends. Since it was too hot a day to actually wear the sweater, she had it tied around her waist. When she was told about some crabs coming ashore, she sprinted down to the waters edge to see them. This entailed running across a short section of grassy park, scaling a sea wall, and then 100 yards or so of sand. After a while, she returned to the picnic table in the park. A 1/2 hour later, she discovered that her rings were gone out of her pocket. She remembered that the sweater was falling off as she ran but didn’t think to check the pocket until now. So, it could be in the grass or short bushes in the park, by the sea wall, in the dry sand, or at the waters edge. The park has real short grass, so, if lost there, it was probably spotted and picked up by someone. Same with the park side of the sea wall as it’s a paved walkway. I decided to hunt the football field size area of dry sand first. After about 45 minutes to an hour of gridding, starting from the sea wall and heading to the wet sand, I got a nice strong and shallow signal about 3/4 of the way to the water that resulted in both rings in one scoop. A stunned and happy Andrea had her rings back as a roar of cheers came from her church group when they heard the good news. Now she could go back and enjoy the party! Pleasure to meet you folks and thank you for the reward.

 

I’ve had a few recoveries that only took seconds to locate the lost ring. This is not one of those times! Sara called me and asked for help finding  a gold ring lost in the surf at Coronado. She had gone out in the water and when a wave hit her, the ring slid off her finger into the calf deep water. She had inherited this ring from her great aunt Mildred, who had passed away in 2009 at the age of 97, and was just sick about the thought of losing this family heirloom.

I met her at the beach that very evening to try to make a quick recovery before the surf, sand, or another detectorist had their way with it. Unfortunately, the tide was in at that point and the surf rather rough. I went out as far as I could but could see that it would be best to try at a low tide (which was about when she had lost it). I made some mental notes as to the location and paced off my steps from known landmarks so I could return to the spot the next day. Good thing, as the weather during the next afternoon low was very windy with blowing sand, which obliterated any sign of where they had camped the previous day. Went out in the same area but in deeper water. Still no luck. Came back twice more in next few days at an even lower tide during the early AM but still couldn’t find it even after expanding the search area. I called Sara, who had been visiting and had flown back home, and told her that I would still keep it on my list and would be back out in a couple of weeks at a real low minus tide and try again.

Fast forward to that day at 3am. It was a day after a storm, so, typical of our south bay beaches, the water was polluted with bacteria from rain run-off and the beach was posted not to swim in the water. Figures, the one day I get a real low tide and I’m limited as to what I can do. I rehunted the same area and went out as far as I could go without going out past ankle deep. I followed the waves in and out trying to hit the area farthest out that I hadn’t been able to search before. 4:15, dead low tide and I get a nice sound on my Excalibur right at the water’s edge, but, just then, a wave is coming in and I couldn’t get a scoop of sand before I had to retreat. I counted my steps toward the beach so I could return to the same spot. Took 40 steps both ways 5 times before I finally got the signal in my scoop. Yes! I was never happier to get a ring in my scoop than this one. So, after 18 days, 5 trips to search that area, and less than ideal conditions, it was finally found.

I texted Sara the good news and the next day met with her local friend Bonnie who was going to return it to Sara. I’m sure her great aunt Mildred helped guide me on this one! Here’s the ring, a happy Sara, and a photo of Mildred taken at about the same age as Sara is today. It was a pleasure to meet Sara and her friends and thank you for the reward. Can I have an easy ring find now? 🙂

Christie took off her two rings and put them in a zippered pouch in her beach chair for safe keeping. Her 4 year old daughter must not have thought that was a good enough place to store them, so, she transferred the rings without telling her mother, to another pouch that didn’t zipper shut. Time to leave and in moving the chairs, the ring disappeared into the sand…..somewhere. After finger shifting for quite some time, they gave up and left. I get the call later and arranged to meet Christie’s husband Matt down at the beach so he can show me the area where they were sitting. Naturally, the area looks a bit different when you return at a later date, so, the search area suddenly got a bit bigger. After searching the first area with no success, I moved a bit northwest up the beach, tried again, and found both of them within a few seconds of each other with my trusty E-trac. I was pleased to find them before someone else did at that busy beach. Matt was a happy man and sent me the photo of a happy Christie.

 

I was digging and sifting a dump site when I get a call for a lost ring at Mission Bay. Kianne had been working out on some equipment in the park when she noticed one of her rings was missing. She had removed two rings and placed them in a pocket before her exercises but now only one ring was still in the pocket. The one missing was a special gift, so, it just HAD to be found!  I loaded up and headed straight down to the bay to meet her.

The search area is built like a playground with a border and wood chips as ground cover. Real easy for a gold ring to get camouflaged in that stuff! All the equipment there is made of steel (figures) so I could only get so close to it with my E-trac. If it was right up next to them, I’d have to use my pin pointer or rake out the chips. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that. After searching the first two areas that she used with no luck, I found it midway through the third area. Even though Kianne, her friend, and others had visually searched the areas, the ring was not spotted even though it was  partially visible! As soon as I got a « gold » signal, I looked down and could see most of the ring in the bark. A happy and smiling Kianne resulted as you can see. It was nice to meet you Kianne and thank you for the reward.

Sara had been playing with children on the beach and in the water when she realized her engagement ring was missing. I received the call as I was sitting down to Easter dinner with family and friends so I told them it would be an hour or so before I could meet them at the location. When I arrived, I met Sara and Angel and their family and listened to the story of the loss and went about gridding the dry sand, which was just one possible area of where it might be hiding. After searching that area and expanding it out even beyond the boundaries they set, we figured it must be out in the ocean. Being high tide and fairly rough out there, I was only able to search to about knee deep. With no success, I told them that I would return at low tide and continue the search. They were sad and disheartened but that was all I could do at that time, so I reluctantly left to go home and get some sleep. I got up at 3am and made it down to the beach by 3:45am to begin the water search. After about 3 passes, I found the ring in ankle deep water with my killer Excalibur, 15″ WOT, Stealth 720i, combination. I texted them that I had found the ring and would contact them later in the morning after getting some much needed sleep. As soon as I woke up, the phone rang and we made arrangements for them to come pick up the ring. Sara and Angel had already traveled home so Adrian came by with daughter in tow. A few photos, calls, and text messages informed everyone the good news, with relief and smiles all around. Thank you for the reward.

I received a call from Annie on Sunday evening about a lost ring. She had been at Mission Beach earlier in the day and had been playing in the surf with a nerf football. She went for a reception and ended up with a fumble as her ring that was given to her by her mother-in-law flew off into waist deep water. As in most cases, the search was in vain as rings can disappear easily in the surf and shifting sands. I told her that I would go to the site the next afternoon to take advantage of a low tide. She gave me a good description of the area since she had to work the next day. I arrived a couple hours before low tide and started a grid. About an hour or so later I got a nice low growl in my headphones indicating a target in the gold range. One big scoop with my Stealth 720i in ankle deep water and I had the prize in the basket. Since I live right on her way home from work, she and her husband stopped by the house and had a happy reunion with the ring. It was a pleasure to meet you both and thank you for the reward.