Lessons and Improving

I spoke with the instructor at the club about taking some additional lessons.  There's two routes I could go here, with the end goal being "become a better sailor".

I could go the certification route.  Right now I hold a CanSail 2 (what used to be "White Sail III") level.  That's basically "you know how to sail."  I got this 5 years ago when I first took lessons.  Now, I'm a much better (I think...) sailor now than I was then.  So maybe I should get trained up to the next level (CanSail 3/4 which basically corresponds to "know how to race").  The advantage of getting a formal certification is that I can putting myself on a common base with other (better) sailors, and I can then see what they're doing differently (better) than me.

Option two is to forgo the certifications, and just "get better".  Work on areas where I'm weak.  Refine areas I'm strong.  The advantage of this route is that I don't waste time developing skills which are of little use to the class of boat I sail on.  For example, how important is knowing "proper trapeze technique" if I'm sailing Lasers?

This got me thinking -- what are my overall goals?

• short term: place 2nd last or better in the Kingston Masters Worlds'
• long term: be a better overall sailor

The certification route would be better for my long term goal, but a more specific regimen would be better for my short term goal.