Well, from my own experience, it seems that "heating it up" a bit to gain speed does outperform the "low and slow" mentality. The key is to know "when to say when". I've taken many a flyer to get speed, only losing ground to the "low and slow" folk. Typically, this happens when it's pretty light (5-8 mph). As Rush ( AKA "Mr. Unis Rule")said - don't go if there ain't nothing to go to.

Your best bet is to go a bit higher, but I would say don't go more than 10-15 degrees higher (ballpark).

And in light air around bouys, you probably needn't be trapped out at all. Getting the hull up is all you need, unless you have my bad habit of overstanding the lay lines to C mark!

But the BEST way to learn is to drag that bad boy down to next year's Tybee 500, and scrap it out with the best of the best!