I feel the easiest way is practice,practice practice. I can rememeber reading that when hobie junior went back to sailing he thought he could jump on a boat and all would be good. He commented "he got smashed at the event", When he got back he just trained after work until dark, Just practiced tacks gybes, Mark roundings etc, The next event he cleared out and smashed the fleet.
I know a few seasons ago,i got the chance to sail both days of the weekend, The first day was with a mate who is a good sailor, And the second was on my own boat.I know that my boat speed increased as i knew where i was in the fleet before i started to sail with my mate.
I also think that a lot of people get caught up in what boat speed they have and if the sails are set right and what angle they are sailing at. i think that you should be sailing as the pro's say "with your head out of the boat". And sail the boat by feel, which is probably easier said than done. But it does work
Just my 2 cents worth
Richard