Hi DavidN,
Sorry it took me a while to get back. Things have been a little hectic.

I'll post some of the things that I picked up in the seminar with Robbie. The good sailors probably know most of this, anyway. It may help those "of us" trying to improve our sailing skills.

It appears that when we recreational sail, we tend to get a little lax in the many factors that make the boat go fast. It is not easy to make the transition to the racing mode without bringing some of those "boat slowing" habits with us. With regards "to myself", here are some of the things "I" need to pay attention to.
1. Don't move the tiller so much. I thought I was pretty good at that. WRONG. I am now trying to steer with my fingers, instead of the whole hand.
2. Let the crew handle the mainsheet. It is a whole lot easier to drive the boat without being concerned about it.
3. When surfing waves, I hung on too long before coming up.
As soon as you "feel" the transoms start to come down..start heading up.
4. Practice being smooth in steering the boat through the tacks and jibs. Evidently I was a bit jerky.
5. Be carefull not to move the helm if you need to do something else on the boat. I evidently moved the helm without knowing it when I was sorting out the sheets.
6. I need to utilize the crew to do more and focus on driving the boat.
7. Tales on the main....if they are steady flicking to leeward, the main is oversheeted. When the main is properly sheeted, they will stream straight back for a few seconds then to lee a few seconds, back to straight back for a few seconds...and so forth.
8. Practice moving combined crew weight fore and aft for optimum boat attitude. You can hear the rudders and feel the pressure on the blades.
9. When reaching in shifty, light air be aware of what the apparent wind is doing.

Whew!! I think I covered just about everything. If by chance I incorrectly stated something, I stand corrected.

Hope this helps at least one person trying to be a better sailor.
Dave