RS600 vid: advice solicited

Having a brief look (revision procrastination):

1) Try and get out on the racks, with straight legs as soon as possible - it was definitely windy enough - especially upwind, this'll help you to 'feel' the boat a bit more, and gain control a little bit more easily than if you are standing on the gunwhales, with bent knees and stepping in/out a lot.
2) Once you're out, use the tiller to help control the power (this was like the biggest epiphany I had in the 600 once someone suggested it).... using small movements, every time you get a gust, head up ever so slightly, and the opposite for a lull. Tis will prevent huge armfuls of mainsheet coming in/out, and will gernally improve the stability as a result.

3) sail a little higher on the downwind, so the boat feels stable (it'll also be faster, planes fairly early on) A little kicker on woul probably help stop the boat swinging around as much, as it closes the leech up helping to stop the rotation that partly caused that death roll!)

4) Search 'RS600' on facebook - we have a group who are more than happy to dish out advice!

Hope this helps a bit :)

You are getting there.

Try to keep the boat flatter. If you watch the leeward wing, if its hitting the water then it really slows you down and also makes tacking hard as the boat will slow down too much as you move in to the boat.

You seem to be spending a lot of time on a tight reach as opposed to sailing upwind. It is far easier to get in a groove if you sail upwind. Sheet in pretty much block to block, and use a combination of small eases in the gusts and a small luff on the rudder to keep the boat flat. As the gust passes immediately sheet on and foot off a little.
Once you know that you have enough breeze to be out on the wire upwind all the time, then dont stop in the boat when you tack. Keeping the boat flat get straight across to the far wing, swap hands, hook on, and push out. As you push out pull the ft of mainsheet back in that you will have eased to tack. If you move across the boat too quickly you'll find yourself sitting on the wing in a bit of water but if you have maintained enough boatspeed as you push out onto the wire and sheet on then you'll get lifted out. If you are too slow crossing the boat you're only choice is to ease mainsheet.

I'd recommend two further things, set your trapeze wires lower! A great piece of advice I was given when I first had one, was if there is enough breeze to be trapezing upwind all the time, then set the height so that when sitting at the back of the wing you can hook on or unhook, without having to jump up. This makes hooking on coming out of tacks easier, and also ensures that as you start the tack that the hook disengages.
The second bit of advice is that the 600 boom is at a marginal height for really being able to run under it during tacks and as you have found its easy to end up collecting the boom on the way across so I'd suggest starting the tack by swinging in to a sitting position on the rack. As your backside hits the rack, unhook and use the momentum to fire your upper body across. Its then one step with a twist to end up sitting on the far rack, sort hands out, hook on and push out. I tended to fall back on this approach as it got windier and lumpier. Once you get really comfortable with your boat handling then build up the ability to walk across from lighter winds up. Some will disagree with this and say learn to stay on your feet from day one, but I think there plenty of things that have a bigger impact on boat handling and enjoyment.

You do seem to send a lot of time looking at the rig while not appreciating what the boat is doing underneath you, so I'd recommend perhaps doing the opposite. Get yourself settled and then focus on the hull and what it is doing. Use rudder and mainsheet to keep it flat but dont get too concerned by rig setup. After a while you will appreciate how the boat feels just through your feet, freeing up time to then concentrate on the rig.

I reckon you need more rig tension as well! In a couple of sections of the vid, both shrouds are slack. While some claim this is a fast setting, it doesn't give you a very 'locked in' feel which you need while you are learning the ropes.

Well done for sticking at it.

With the rig tension slack the boat can rock around under the rig. Some claim it's fast but it certainly doesn't make it easy to get your bearings on the boat. Much better to have it all solid while learning. To stop going in to windward, when you feel it happening sheet on harder and pull the tiller over, if it still comes over, bend your knees and move inboard. As I say learn to feel what the hull is doing and adjust the rig to keep the hull flat.

'tying'

I would so love to have one of these. Tried one (briefly) once and immediately thought: "This will take some time but it's going to be a blast when I crack it!!" .....and to my untrained eye you look as though you're very close to having it licked!
Getting across the boat at just the right time looks to be one key part...but what do I know?
Keep at it and it will all just suddenly fall into place.
Looking pretty good. Now, I wonder if Mrs Fleaberto would release 'the boiler fund'????