Welcome to the A Class!! I'm no expert but will give you my two cents worth to get you going.

1) Yes. After all else start lowering the traveler. I would keep the main sheet tight as long as possible to keep the sail as flat as possible. Sometimes if the boat feels bound up, it pays to ease the sheet just a bit to let the top vent so you can bear off a little and go.

2) The further you let the traveler out the deeper you can go but slower. With the traveler up at the inside of the hull or at the foot strap you can heat the boat up and play the stall to get low. Its hard to tell how well things are working without another boat to sail against. Hopefully your Taipan is still close by and you can sail against it. Light air downwind on the uni-rig is an art that only comes with an investment in time.

3) Yes. In marginal wild thing conditions he who can get a hull up scoots and sitting on the low side to do so is nothing to be ashamed of. Again a lot of practice is needed here. In marginal wild thing conditions I will not attemp it in a race because I'm not good enough to make it pay as opposed to sailing flat and smooth.

4) I'm in the dark here. All I can say is that my side stay is in the third hole from the top on the standard factory fitting. I'm lucky in that I can copy the fast guys setup but don't always know why something works.

Hopefully some of the guys with the right answers will chime in and help us both out.

Ed