Pete, back to your original question. I will preface this by saying we were nowhere near the front of the fleet, so I'm sure some of this is counterproductive. In addition this was our first time sailing together, and our first time sailing an F18...

I spent a bit of time as crew (aka "waste of space on a boat") that weekend looking backward at our track while sailing. Very easy to notice when we were lifted and headed. Also good to see if any other boats were being affected. Most importantly, it was so I wouldn't second-guess the driver (who was very competent in her own right).

Not having to worry about the driving, it was easier for me to figure out where we were on the course, what the other boats were doing, and what our sail trim was. Driving takes up a lot of brain to figure out strategy.

My "boat" work was primarily maximizing the speed for any given position, so I had some brain power to figure out stuff for the driver.

I noticed a header preceeded each pressure patch, and things did go slightly right each day (Friday more noticable than the others). I also noticed that the other boats could sail a bit higher than us, so we chose not to pinch up to them but rather just sail fast and hope we choose the right lift/header combination.

There always seemed a bit more pressure near A, and having usually overstood when we hit the right, it was a bit of a close reach to get back to the layline (which helped us drive over a few boats trying to slam the door on us).

I also noticed that the right side (left as you're going downhill) paid a little better with the spinnaker up, and gave you stb rights coming into the gate.

We got a decent start once or twice near the pin, which put us at the mercy of all the boats behind us before we could tack over on port and get right. But, getting a good start with clean air was huge.

When we got a second-row start, we just worked on boatspeed and followed the leader. No use for us in taking wild risks (we weren't in contention for any pickle-dishes). Making fewer mistakes (sail handling, transitions) than the next guy was our strategy.

But weekends like that are what made me want to sail in the first place!