Here is Day 2 of my first weekend on the Wake Surfer. Similar to the last one but a little shorter with our kids doing some wakeboarding and tubing. At one point the drone missed a cliff by inches as I was looking at the screen for the footage but my spotter Yelled “JOSH… CLIFF!!!” So, I reversed direction and went up full throttle and we survived. A testament to having a spotter, especially in canyons and other tight spaces.
At another point the battery was so low and I had manually overridden the return to home function so the drone was actually unresponsive and we got the boat within a few feet of it as it was preparing to land itself on the water. (NOT GOOD). I was able to barely reach out and grab one leg of the drone with my hand and barley pull it in over the boat. The GPS on the drone kicked in and fought me as I was pinching one leg of it with my thumb and index finger. I really had to fight it and then just hold it as the battery died out. I was prepared to dive for it but fortunately Matt the driver of the boat was amazing at getting us within reach so quickly. It was bad no me for disregarding the low battery warnings, but the footage was sooooo fun to get that I was taking unnecessary risks. I recommend setting the low battery warning for close flights on a Mavic Pro at 18% and having it in ASAP no later than 15%. It will save you some heartache and stress.
Has anyone else had close calls similar to this where you were able to save the equipment? I’d be interested in reading your stories.
