April 8th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Sadly on Australia day back in January, Liza lost her very large gold wedding ring after being dumped by a wave at the Copacabana Beach. Liza was visiting her son from South Africa at the time. Unfortunately when Liza’s son Bernard called me to search for the ring, my under water metal detector was in for repairs. Many months later, Liza contacted me via email to ask if I could search for the lost ring. Because so much time had passed by, and the ring was lost in the surf I mentioned to Liza there was very little chance of finding the ring. But as a way of getting closure, Liza asked me to search the area for the ring anyway. I drove up the central coast to the beautiful Copacabana Beach and met Liza’s son Bernard, who showed me the approximate area of where the ring was lost. Strangley enough, after 2 hours of searching the area at low tide, I did not receive one single target! This rarely ever happens…there is always at least a coin or bottle cap to dig up. If anyone has managed to find a “Large” gold ring at the Copacabana Beach, please contact me as this ring means a lot to Liza.

March 2nd, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Kristy had only been married for 10 weeks, and was given the task of minding her husband’s wedding ring while he went water skiing. Kristy put the ring on her thumb, and carried on with her day. When it was time to leave the small beach area they we’re located, Kristy realised her husband’s wedding ring was no longer on her thumb. As you can imagine, both Kristy and her husband we’re gutted. Without her husband’s knowledge, Kristy gave me a phone call and asked if I could head up to Woy Woy on the central coast to help her out. As always, I mentioned to Kristy I would love to help out…but from the information she had given me I think it will be very difficult to find. Kristy had no idea where the ring had dropped, but luckily she did not venture out more than knee to waist deep water. After an hour plus drive, and a 10 minute boat ride to the location, I began detecting the beach which was now under water due to a high tide. Unbelievably after 10 minutes, and digging up a few bottle caps, I looked in my scoop and spotted a  large gold wedding ring. Kristy was willing to take a risk,  and it had paid off. After returning the ring to Kristy, she was misty eyed and gave me a big hug. She could not wait to get home and surprise her husband who had no idea Kristy had organised a search for his lost wedding ring. Kristy, it was a pleasure to meeting you, Krystal and Dean.

February 10th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

Narrabeen Lagoon

I always enjoy a challenge when it comes to metal detecting. Some jobs are simple, and it literally takes me minutes to recover the lost item. But this has been a tough summer for the “Metal Detector Man”! Under water jobs are always difficult for too many reasons and variables to list. Which means my recovery rate for such jobs it low. I always mention this to my customers before starting a new job. I am not trying to talk myself out of business, but I like to be realistic. Here are some jobs below which had disappointing endings..

• Sam was attending a wedding that myself and Layne Beachley had to sneak around to get to a harbour side beach her ring was lost. The word soon spread via the wedding guests that Layne Beachley had lost her engagement ring, and she had hired the metal detector man to try and find it. The following weekend, Sam was at his friends holiday home throwing a ball in waist deep water. After diving for the ball, Sam believes this could have been the point when the ring fell off. I drove up to the central coast (Bonnels Bay) to search for Sam’s lost wedding ring. After a good 3 hour search covering the area with both my metal detectors, we decided to call it quits.
• Jan had this misfortune of losing the keel off her boat in the dirty Parramatta River. Jan knew of the area where she believed the keel to have dropped. Because it was a metal keel, I decided I could try searching for it with my under water metal detector. It wasn’t until I arrived to the spot I realised how bad the conditions we’re. The water was literally brown…with zero visibility. In fact I could not even see my air gauge pushed up against my mask. Anyway, I wasn’t going to let this stop me…I did my usual 360 degree rope search covering a 20 meter diameter. A few big signals but none of them the keel. After a couple of hours searching in darkness I ran out of air. If anyone has an idea or a service which could help Jan recover her 250 kilo keel, please contact me!
• Paula lost her diamond engagement ring at Narrabeen Lagoon. I actually had 2 attempts at this job, but could not perform the search with any sort of efficiency while my underwater detector was in for repairs. My 3rd attempt was a couple of weeks later, armed with my repaired detector. After completing both a north-west, and east west grid search of the area following my ropes, I was not able to find Paula’s engagement ring. If any metal detector guys to manage to find a diamond wedding ring at Narrabeen Lagoon, please contact me. Paula is more than happy to offer a generous reward.

January 31st, 2010 by Brad Lovell

The last handful of jobs have proved to be very challenging. It is always sad for both me and my customer when I am unable to find their lost items.. below are some searches that we’re unsuccessful

• Sarah lost her engagement ring at Bondi Beach. She felt her ring come off in about chest deep water. I mentioned to Sarah my underwater detector is currently away for repairs, and perhaps asking one of the underwater metal detecting guys at Bondi Beach for help. (Bondi Beach is being detected almost 24 hours a day) Sarah contacted Tony from Jewllery Rescue who faced the same problem as me, no underwater detector. I ended up driving to Miners Den at Parramatta and hiring an Excalibur 800 water proof metal detector. We met at Bondi Beach that night in the low tide. There was a fierce electrical storm happening so the beach was almost empty. I spent about 1.5 hours searching the area Sarah had been swimming. After digging up the usual coins and pull tabs while getting smashed by the surf, Tony attempted to brave the night sea. After more searching and having the earphones removed from his head by waves time after time, Tony too gave up after giving it his best. Sarah’s ring is lost in a difficult position, too deep for up right detecting, and too rough for scuba diving. The ring is a mens gold signet with the letters “ACK” engraved.
• Paula lost her diamond engagement ring at a lagoon at Narrabeen. So far I have made two attempts searching for this ring. First time it didn’t take long at all to realise I needed to use scuba gear. Second time I came back with Scuba Gear and my hired detector. The hired detector stopped working so I scanned the bottom just using my pinpointer and eye sight. I plan on going back to search for Paula’s engagement ring once I get my metal detector back from repairs.
• Amanda lost a ring that was a gift from her boyfriend while fishing near Richmond. She felt that the ring may have fallen off as she cast her fishing rod. She did say she heard a strange splash and was not sure what it was. We could not decide if this could have been her ring as her hand would have been clenched around the rod when casting. I searched the water anyway, but unfortunately came up empty handed.
• Joey lost her engagement ring at a beach near the Bouddi Bouddi national park on Australia Day. She had spent the day playing cricket on the sand, and swimming in the water. At the end of the day she realised her ring was no longer on her finger. I searched the sand where they had been playing cricket, then hopped in the water at low tide trying to find her engagement. After many hours of trying, we gave up hope of finding Joey’s lost ring.
• After reading the story in media regarding me finding Layne Beachley’s lost engagement ring, Linda decided to give me a call to see if I could help her. Linda actually lost her gold ring over a year ago, possibly while gardening in her backyard. She and her husband hired a metal detector but did not manage to find anything. I drove up to Avalon to meet Linda, and basically searched her entire backyard for the ring. I did manage to find a lot of things, but her gold ring was not one of them

January 7th, 2010 by Brad Lovell

After an unsuccessful search for two wedding rings at Whale Beach, my confidence was at an all time low. Being the stubborn person I am, I take each and every job personally…and when I can’t recover the lost item for my customer I feel like I have let them down. Earlier on in the day I had received a phone call from Kylie. Kylie managed to lose both her wedding and engagement ring in knee deep water at Umina Beach (near Gosford on the central coast). So with my tail between my legs, I drove north towards Gosford. By the time I arrived at Umina Beach it was around 9:30pm, well and truly dark. I eventually found Kylie and her husband searching the beach for the rings. I had Kylie mark off a large area in the sand and mentioned to her I would search between these two marks and into the water. Without waisting any time, I began a slow tedious north-south search with my underwater metal detector. About an hour went by and things we’re not looking promising. But the one positive aspect of this search was the beach was very clean. The only signals I had received in over an hour we’re 20c coins. Not one piece of rubbish. Getting close to two hours of searching, I was getting close to completing the search in the area Kylie had marked. Had she put me in the wrong spot? Had the rings been washed away? Many thoughts we’re going through my mind, but I was determined to redeem myself after an unsuccessful day at Whale Beach. Not long after, I received a loud blast through my earphones. I gently pushed the scoop into the sand, and recovered the target. That target happened to be Kylie’s gold diamond engagement ring. Kylie was jumping up and down for joy, hugging both myself and her husband. My job was not over yet, I still had to find the wedding ring. About one swing of the metal detector from the where the engagement ring was, I managed to recover Kylie’s wedding ring as well. This was a great end to a not so great day. I want to thank Kylie and her husband for being patient with me, and for a generous reward

December 22nd, 2009 by Brad Lovell

Jordon lost his Bar Mitzvah ring while swimming somewhere at Wangi Wangi beach. Jordan’s mother Jo called me and asked if I could help. Unfortunately Jordon did not feel when or where the ring fell off his finger, but recalls spending time in two locations on the day it was lost. The two possibilities we’re when he jumped of a jetty into the water, or when he was at a nearby beach throwing sand and rocks. I mentioned to Jo that finding a lost ring in the water is difficult as it is, but when you don’t know exactly where the ring has dropped makes things even more impossible. But miracles do happen, and Jo and Jordan wanted to feel like they have given recovery of the ring its best shot. I was not familiar with Wangi Wangi, which turned out to be a 2 hour drive north of Sydney. I picked up my commercial diving friend Nathan on the way. Once we arrived at Wangi Wangi, Jordan showed us the areas he had been on the day he lost the ring. Nathan started searching the Jetty area, while I searched the beach. After a couple of hours searching, both Nathan and I we’re unable to find Jordan’s missing ring. Although Nathan did manage to find two rings (without the use of an underwater metal detector), but unfortunately none of these we’re Jordan’s. If you do happen to find a large gold ring at Wangi Wangi beach, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Jordan and Jo.

February 13th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I received a desperate phone call from Maxine, who lost 2 gold rings off her finger at the same time. To make matters worse, the rings we’re handed down to her by her grandmother who had passed away 6 months earlier. And to make matters worse again still, it was her passed Grandmother’s birthday the day she lost her rings! But it doesn’t stop there…Maxine’s Rings fell into a channel which lead to the ocean. Not long after the rings we’re lost, heavy rain started which caused the flowing water in the channel to increase its flow speed….cutting out a larger area in the sand. So what began as a one meter wide channel when Maxine lost the ring, had turned into a 15-20 meter wide channel by the time I arrived. This made it difficult for Maxine to remember exactly where she dropped the rings as everything had changed. The odds we’re against us, but I was determined to find Maxine’s rings…even if I found one, it would be still something for Maxine and her mother to hold onto. There was only a couple of hours of daylight left, so there was no time to waist. I began my usual grid search…and after about 1.5 hours of searching, the rain hammered down. This was not great for moral, but I was not going to give up. And thankfully I didn’t…in the middle of the pouring rain, I received a nice signal from the Excalibur. After two deep scoops, I had whatever was causing the signal. I drained the sand from the scoop in the flowing water…and there it was, Maxine’s beautiful gold diamond ring. Whilst Maxine and her mother we’re making phone calls and jumping for joy, I was looking for the second ring. I knew it had to be close! About 5 minutes later, another nice signal sounded from the Excalibur. I had found Maxine’s second ring. Maxine’s mother was understandably very emotional…they we’re both relieved to have the Rings back in their possession. A quick thank you to Maxine and her mum for such a generous reward. This photo snapped with my iPhone does not really show the full beauty of Maxine’s rings. Hopefully Maxine will send in a better photo for us to admire.

Edit: Thanks for the photos Maxine, now we can all appreciate the true beauty of your Grandma’s Rings