With all the wind yesterday, what to do but practice anchoring canoes. Found that a Y-yoke, with the two 'arms' symetrically attached to bow and stern, and the bottom to the anchor, work well in many conditions. Make the 'arms' long enough so you can reach and retrieve the anchor line from the end of the canoe. When deployed, the canoe is perpendicular to the wind. The trick now is to sit in the boat so windage and water resistance is symetrical. When seated near one end, wind would catch the other end, swing it around, and the heavy end would follow. Sitting on the middle thwart solved the problem.
Found sea anchors really don't damp out motions much, since most puffs are longer than 30 sec or so, and the boat swings at least as far, albeit more slowly. They are also a hassle.
I think the trick is to sit in the boat so drag (and draft) are symetrical. It's still not perfect, but much better than other options.
BTW, moving back and forth in the canoe to deploy and recover two anchors almost cost me a dunking. I've seen fancy gizmos for remotely controlling anchors, but haven't botherted with them.
With all this, it's still not perfect. The way to slow down and control the retrieve is to allow a small (~4") loop of slack between the rod and line. It lets you see instantly if you're drifting wrt the line, and can correct for it. Not nearly as controlled as wading, but works pretty well.