Autofocus for water sports

[TimHughes]

Has anyone found the best autofocus settings to track with frequent water splashes?

I was photographing wakeboards on Sunday and tried several combinations but nothing worked reliably so my hit rate was back to dslr days. I was used Canon R5 and my friend had Nikon Z9 and both had the same challenge.

 

[gman]

Is there not a setting to change how long tracking sticks to the subject once locked on and objects move in front of the subject? My A9 had something like 5 settings for this I think.

 

[DemiLion]

AutoFocus Case 2

 

[TimHughes]

AutoFocus Case 2

Case 2 worked well until the riders dig into a sharp turn and generate a wall of water. The change in direction threw it off. We ended up keeping the focus point ready and pumping the AF button until there was enough of the rider visible to lock focus again. I didn't play with the tracking sensitivity and acceleration/deceleration tracking which may have helped.