Light winds (10-12kts) were forecast. Seemed like a good day to take the boat out and try to obtains some droneshots of Koeketiene under sail.
Things got to be fun, interesting and scary all within a matter of minutes.
First of all, there was slightly less wind than forecast, 6-8kts of apparent wind at most. This effectively meant I was drifting with sails up.
So, I decided to get adventurous and set the cruising chute.
So far, so good.
Then I launched the drone.
Flying the drone and sailing the boat singlehanded (with the cruising chute up) proved to be 'interesting'.
Luckily, the drone has a 'follow me' feature which really saved my bacon and gave me time to keep the boat on track.
Got a 'battery 50%' warning, so I decided it was time for the drone to come home to daddy. And that's when things got confused and then scary really quickly.
Try as I might, I could not disengage the 'follow me' mode. I could not get the drone to approach.
So, I decided to flick the 'return home' switch. According to the manual the drone should then automatically return to the remote control (in my hands - on the boat).
However, the manual also said (though I neglected to read that bit) that if the connection to the drone is weak or lost, the drone will return to the point where it took off.
This must have been the case as upon flicking the 'return home' switch the drone shot off towards take off point and landed on the water.
Control unit then informed me it had lost connection with the drone.
Panic stations.
I never recovered the cruising chute as quickly as I did yesterday.
Started the engine and executed a 180 to retrace my steps.
The drone is pretty small, and despite it being bright orange try as I might I couldn't see it anywhere. After about 10 minutes of searching, I was all but ready to give up when suddenly the control unit re-established connection with the drone.
I stopped the engine and I had the drone take off. Trouble was, being so small and against the dark grey skies I couldn't see it. So, I had the drone do a couple of 360 turns and see if I could catch the boat on camera.
Going by what the drone saw, I now had an idea where it was and I managed to fly the drone back towards the boat.
Landed the drone on the water near to the boat. Then I wanted to take control of the helm to steer the boat so I could pick up the drone.
Second 'catastrophe' of the day: the autopilot would not disengage. The screen just went blank.
Dashed down below flick the autopilot on/off switch and rushed back on deck. Just in time to see the drone disappear under the boat, and somewhat relieved to see it resurface the other side. And it took off again and once again I landed it next to the boat.
The second recovery attempt was successful.
Stand down panic stations.
So, what did we learn yesterday?
1. Not reading the entire drone manual had been a mistake. In my defence: men only read manuals as a last resort.
2. When singlehanded, sailing the boat and flying a drone well... not exactly a walk in the park. More training required. Much more.
3. The quality of the pictures and footage of my Spry+ drone is nowhere near as good as that of my GoPro cameras, but on the other hand: the amount of abuse and punishment this little drone can take more than makes up for it.
4. This has been the third time in as many months that the autopilot throws a wobbly. I really do hope it lasts the season as I cannot afford any major boat equipment breaking right now.
Onwards and upwards.
Things can (and will) only get better.
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