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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 Gooch’s 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. ??
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 home—completely 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. ??♀️
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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. ?️?
Using the image, I drew two specific boxes directly in the sand:
* ? A Red Square positioned closer to the high tide line.
* ⬛ 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. » ??♀️
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. ??
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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. ?️?️
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 it—but the detector remained completely silent. No ring. ❌?️
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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 detectorist’s 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. ?️⚡
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?! ?
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! » ?♀️?
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That one piece of new information changed absolutely everything. I realized the ring didn’t drop while she was walking to an exit—it 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. ?️?
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 tone—exactly what I had been praying to hear! ?✨
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! ??
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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 now—when Kate cleared that 5-foot wall in a single bound, the momentum sent the ring flying right out of her shirt pocket. ?♀️?
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. ??
As I walked off Gooch’s Beach—using the actual stairs and definitely not trying to play Superman like Kate—I 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! ?✨
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! ❤️?
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