This happened to me too. About 1 mile offshore. Strong winds, big tradeswell, overcast, 5pm in the evening. My riding buddy already bombed downwind. The weird thing was I was outside a reef pass and the current was against the wind. So I was actually slowly going upwind because of the drag from the wing all tangled up around the mast. There is this shallow offshore reef that is about 1’ deep and waves breaking over it that I’m getting pushed towards. Getting winded trying to untangle, swallowing water.
I consider myself a fit person and can swim long distances but I was getting concerned. To top it off, coincidentally a US Coast Guard plane flies overhead (we never see them here). I did have the Ozone harness with the knife. I was getting close to using it. Finally got it untangled just as my riding buddy made it back upwind after frantically looking for me. SKETCH!