Hand catch on a moving ship

[Crash and Burn]

Do you have these . . .

Or these . . .

If so, maybe you can just fit the skids, and use those for easier / safer hand catching ?

The pontoons will be greatly affected by wind / gusts, and rarely can you land them on anything but calm water safely, and then I wouldn't risk it unless dire situation.
Obviously your only main concern with having the pontoons is getting the body out of the water.

With your Refresh cover (at least for the first couple of years) I really think you'd be a prime candidate for a Getterback
Small and lightweight, less effect from wind and less resistance in flight.
Get your body back.

Other things that might be worth considering are @Phantomrain.org wetsuit and other rescue jacket set up ??
I don't have in depth (no pun intended) on those, but many on the forum use them.
Again the recue jackets look like wind would affect them to some degree, but look more stable than pontoons, lower profile to the aircraft.

I have the first one and yes I agree, we may just end up using the skids. We're not flying very high or very far away and generally when conditions are good as we have to bang out 60 kms just to get to the reef. But I will definitely take your advice onboard.

The getterback looks interesting, the jacket is above my budget. I've just bought a tablet and tablet mount so I'm trying to limit my accessory spending. It's easy to get caught up in buying toys but then I have to work to pay for them and have no time to use them. Life's little paradox.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The Mini 2 Rescue jacket is much more Stream Lined and not as affected by the Winds .
Its also much easier to Hand Catch .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mini 2 in the Rain and Land on the Water.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I have the first one and yes I agree, we may just end up using the skids. We're not flying very high or very far away and generally when conditions are good as we have to bang out 60 kms just to get to the reef. But I will definitely take your advice onboard.

The getterback looks interesting, the jacket is above my budget. I've just bought a tablet and tablet mount so I'm trying to limit my accessory spending. It's easy to get caught up in buying toys but then I have to work to pay for them and have no time to use them. Life's little paradox.

Understood.
You should be right with the skids in general, be interesting to test flight time on land before you go out, in similar wind conditions, just so you know roughly how long the battery will last.