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

Tuesday was a busy day for me, with 6 missing rings needing to be reunited with their owners. First job for the day was Brett’s wedding ring (previous entry), which turned out successful. Not long after recovering Brett’s wedding ring I received a phone call from Adis. Adis lost his wedding ring at Whale Beach, about an hour north of Sydney. As I was driving to Whale Beach, I received another phone call from Jasmine. Jasmine had also lost her wedding ring, and she too was at Whale Beach. When I arrived at Whale Beach, I met up with Adis as he explained to me what happened to his wedding ring. Adis put the ring on his towel as he applied suncream. When his kids came out of the water, his wife lifted the towel not realising Adis had left the ring on it. I figured this would be an easy job, but after searching the area many times over with 2 different metal detectors I could not find the lost wedding ring. Even Adis used one of my metal detectors as I searched with the other. I said to Adis I needed to go and help Jasmine who was patiently waiting for me to search for her lost wedding ring. At this point I was approached by another lady who asked if I could help find her wedding ring too. 3 lost wedding rings at the same time, this was getting weird. Anyway, Jasmine had not moved from the area she had been sitting all day. Her wedding and engagement ring we’re in a zipped pocket in her bag, with keys and wallet. Jasmine reached into the bag to give her sister her wallet. It seems that the wallet must have folded and grabbed the two rings. Jasmine found the engagement ring in the sand next to her towel, but the wedding ring was no where to be seen. I searched the area Jasmine had been sitting. No wedding ring to be found. We worked out the path Jasmine’s sister had taken to the car. It was a long walk, and it would take me a few hours to grid the entire area. I mentioned to Jasmine I would search the area, and give her a call if I manage to find the ring. Jasmine was surprisingly calm, saying it is not the end of the world. Adis on the other hand was very desperate…so I went back to his area and continued expanding the search perimeter. In the mean time, the other lady who lost her ring mentioned she found hers, and not to worry about helping her now. I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for both Adis’s and Jasmine’s wedding rings without any success. The following night I went back with Tony from Jewellery Rescue, and we basically grid searched the entire half of the beach to no avail. If anyone does happen to pickup a wedding ring at Whale Beach, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Adis and Jasmine. Adis’s wedding ring is white gold, with G&G engraved inside, while Jasmine’s wedding ring has Jasmine and her husbands name engraved inside the ring. My day would not end yet…

March 31st, 2009 by Brad Lovell

This is another story where google maps saved the day. I received a message from Mike who lost his Platinum wedding band in the sand at Palm Beach. I was sleeping at the time of Mike’s message, and did not have the chance to respond until about 3 hours later. In that time, Mike had already gone to Tandy and purchased a Metal Detector. Unfortunately the new Metal Detector Mike just bought could not find the platinum ring. As most experienced metal detectorist’s will know, Platinum gives off a low deep signal..almost similar to foil or pull tabs from aluminium cans. Whether or not the Metal Detector from Tandy discriminates these signals I am not sure…but Mike had no luck. After talking on the phone, I mentioned to Mike the sooner I get there, the greater chance I have of recovering the ring. But Mike was not a Northern Beaches local, and was back home in the Eastern Suburbs os Sydney. He was unable to meet me back at Palm Beach due to work commitments, so I asked him to plot the location he lost the ring on google maps. This method had already worked for me once before, (Read Story Here) so Mike sent through an email with the treasure map attached. I printed out the treasure map, and began the journey to Palm Beach. After arriving, and studying the map Mike had made, I was pretty sure I had found the right area. After about 5 minutes of searching, I had found Mikes Platinum Wedding band about 6/7inches deep. This ring had some weight to it, so it had sunk into the sand really fast. Also, it was in an area that had a lot of foot traffic, being an entry and exit to the beach, so it is quiet possible that peoples foot steps we’re burying the ring deeper and deeper. Mike was a VERY happy man when I called to tell him the great news My girlfriend returned the ring to Mike the following day. Sorry I never actually got to meet you Mike, and thank you kindly for such a generous reward!

March 30th, 2009 by Brad Lovell

I received a some what frantic phone call from Angus… he had lost his gold wedding ring in the surf at Palm Beach (Sydney Northern Beaches). Unfortunately due to family circumstances, I was baby sitting my sister’s kids on the other side of Sydney, and was unable to help search for Angus’s ring. I managed to contact Tony, another Metal Detecting hobbyist who has just started offering his service to the public. Tony is in the Liverpool area, but stopped what he was doing to drive all the way up to Palm Beach. Unfortunately by the time Tony arrived, Angus and his wife had to leave for a wedding. So Tony could only conduct a search based on what Angus has told him. I received a message from Tony later that night, saying he was unsuccessful at finding Angus’s wedding ring. But Tony had not given up, and was heading back to Palm Beach the following day to continue the search. I decided to help Tony with the search….so while Tony was scanning the wet sand, I was in the water trying to find the ring. After another 2 hour hunt, it was time for me to call it quits. Once a ring has fallen into the surf, there is usually very little chance of recovery I had another job the following day at Palm Beach. It was a quick recovery, so I decided to spend another hour or so looking for Angus’s lost wedding ring again. Once again, no luck…I feel very bad for Angus, but at the same time, I hope he feels better knowing he did all he could to recover it. And had 2 different people searching for it, on two different occasions. If anyone does happen to find a gold men’s wedding ring at Palm Beach…please contact me on bradl@bigpond.net.au so I can put you in contact with Angus.