First Flights with Floats on my DJI Drones! Mavic Mini & Mavic Air 2S for Offshore Flying

I recently had the experience of flying a drone off of a 31 foot sailboat on the ocean near Los Angeles Harbor. We sailed out of Cabrillo Marina and I brought my DJI Spark and a Mavic Air 2S. I was hoping to fit the float set I bought for my Mavic Mini on the Spark but the mount is different and I opted to not bring my floats with me when I sent sailing.

I had read up on the challenges of flying off a boat and understand how precise the GPS Home Position is and if you run into trouble and the battery runs low, the drone will return to the place where you took off. You have to keep in mind the sailing or drifting speed. I didn't have anyone else who knew how to help with a hand launch or hand landing so I was on my own.

My old Spark doesn't have the camera resolution my newer aircraft have but it's a solid and rugged little aircraft.The challenges of takeoffs and landings led me to only fly my bigger Mavic Air 2S from the marina. It was better to risk a $400 aircraft than a $1000 one should you miss the landing zone and smack the side of the vessel. These floats would have made things less risky. I have some other new equipment to make returning back to the sailboat much safer. I hope to do it again soon. There is nothing like the perspective of flying next to your boat. It was a lot of fun. I plan to do some FPV flying from the boat on a future outing. ~ William Flying39