Warpa, we launch from Calshot and started boating a couple of years back in pretty much the same boat as you and moved on in the same mindset to go for a cuddy (Fletcher 19GTSc) were great fun... we're down for the whole week, wc 6th Aug,, send us a pm if you're about and we'll meet up with a view to passing on some of my learnings.. an expert I'm certinly not but there'll be some advice there that'll useful to you no doubt..
regarding handling various wave heights and patterns, there's a good online read.. I'll se if I can find it
