The 8 Drones We’ve Lost and How

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Unfortunately, I’m not kidding with that number — we’ve actually lost eight drones. The best part is we had kind of ignored how many it was until recently, when the boys were attempting to fix yet another one that had gone swimming and realised there were 8 gimbal protectors! That’s a sad realisation, trust me.

But, it was actually kind of fun to go back and list all the places we’d lost them… so, shall we go on a drone destruction journey?

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#1 DJI Spark — Maine

We were in a remote little spot up in Maine in summer, anchored between the hundreds of cray pots, and wanted to get the drone up for some aerial shots… well, our little Spark decided that this was as good a spot as any to choose a watery grave.

Oh, quick note here: Finn and Kris are the drone pilots on board. This means they get credit for the shots... and responsibility for the crashes.

The water was so cold we gave up searching for it pretty quickly.

#2 DJI Mavic Air 2 — Fiji

So this new drone was bigger and better than the previous little Spark and therefore lasted quite a while — half the world, in fact.

But all good adventures come to an end and, well, so did this one.

While the kids were surfing out at Swimming Pools in Fiji, Kris decided to get some shots (which he did), but then, on the way back to land it in the dinghy, he flew a little too low and it crashed right there in front of him — half a metre from the dinghy.

He managed to grab it and we had our first attempt at reviving a drone (ahem, fail).

#3 DJI Mini 3 — Indonesia

Right, fast forward a few months and we’re in a really remote volcanic island in Indonesia called Krakatoa. It’s as crazy as its name suggests and we’d been able to go and hike the volcano.

Then we’d come home and were making dinner when a gnarly lightning storm came through — dry though, and just far enough away that we could hear and see it but be safe (ish).

So, wanting to try and capture the ridiculous horizontal lightning strikes, we decided to get the drone up and have a go… ahem, didn’t go so well.

We crashed it into a tree on the island (but not the volcano one).

The next day we were determined — well, I should say, Kris and the kids were determined. Wielding the GPS coordinates and some grit, they spent half the day trying to climb a cliff and reach the area where it could be… unfortunately, they came home empty-handed but with a tale to tell.

#4 DJI Mini 3 — Madagascar

Right, welcome to another very, very remote place.

This drone had been swimming once already in the Maldives, but Finn had somehow managed to revive it, and it had been working well until now… when we were scoping an anchorage that no one had ever been to before and it just dropped out of the sky.

RIP, we couldn’t find you.

#5 DJI Mavic Air 2 — South Africa

We’re off the boat and on a land adventure in South Africa — a spot called Drakensberg.

We’ve hiked up to this waterfall and want to get some shots of it from the air. The kicker is — it’s really windy!

While most of us kept hiking to the actual viewpoint, Kris and Finn tried to get said shots.

Well, when they caught up with us, they had a disappointed look on their faces: they’d crashed it.

Though they managed to find it, there was no recovering from that one.

#6 DJI (Fixed) Mavic Air 2 — Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia

This one was a very fixed-up one that you had to tape the battery in to, but it still flew and Archie was having fun flying it around the anchorage.

Then something malfunctioned and it started doing death circles until it plunged into the water…

That left two very disappointed boys.

#7 DJI Mini 3 — Apataki, French Polynesia

A beautiful atoll with crystal clear water, beautiful palm trees, and barreling waves… what a perfect place, right?

Until you’re coming through the pass, fighting 4 kts of current and 20 kts of wind, and the captain asks you to get a drone shot of it all.

Well, this time it was once again total user error and it hadn’t fully completed the take-off sequence when Finn let it go — the wind took it and it plunged to a whirlpooling death in the rushing current.

There was very little possibility of finding that one and we missed out on any aerial footage of our waves for the next few days.

Total bummer.

#8 DJI Mavic Air 2 — Moorea, French Polynesia

No excuses from Finn on this final one, there’s not even much of a story!

The poor guy just didn’t hold the take-off button for long enough — dink dink dink, splash.

Along the solar panels and into the water.

He found it, but after several days of pulling it apart and rebuilding it many times over, it was officially not filming ever again.

Learnings From Losing 8 Drones

Well, obviously, try not to.

But it does happen. I feel like boat life and drones are a love-hate relationship. The shots are so awesome, yet the price is often so steep.

A couple of things we’ve learnt over the years:

• Don’t fly into trees at night. It’s a disappointing way to lose a drone.
• Make sure your take-off sequence has completed before you let the drone go, otherwise it won’t end well.
• Don’t fly it if the wind is more than 20 kts. This is our general rule of thumb, though bigger drones can handle it better and it varies.
• We like to launch off the top of our roof at the back, away from the sails and mast. Also, if it’s windy, we launch on the downwind side so there’s nothing to hit on take-off.
• It’s always worth the risk, because most of the time, it all goes smoothly and you get incredible shots.
• Flying the drone when entering new anchorages and reef passes has become a habit for us — it helps us visualise a spot and see what’s on the bottom. Highly recommend this if you have enough hands!

Our Favourite Drone

Yes, I’m well aware they’re all DJI, the reason for this is… we haven’t found any that work as well and are as user-friendly.

That said, Finn has recently gotten a new one from Antigravity, so stay tuned on how that goes.

But, as far as our favourite goes, it would have to be the DJI Mini 3 with the inbuilt screen on the controller.

We’ve had the most of these and love them. Though they’re smaller than the Mavics, they seem to be smoother and cheaper... But that’s just our opinion.

You can go and get a DJI Mini 3 here.

Summary

I really hope you’ve enjoyed this journey of drone destruction, as I’ve come to call it.

I think it’s interesting how and where we’ve lost all of them. I’m seriously hoping our current one goes better than the last three — we lost all of them in a matter of weeks!

What I would love to know is if you have any tips, because, I don’t know… we might need them.

Also, if you have any drone stories of your own, feel free to share and make us feel better.

Can’t wait to hear them. Catch you in the comments!