i had sailed like 40' + sailboats in the past but was pretty much a rookie to sailing i would say
the only way i can describe it is 'primative saililng'. think about what the ancient polynesians used thousands of years ago. they actually conquered nations and islands using only these types of vessels as transport.
its real basic. you just put your sail up tight (considering the winds are light
) and just practice going at an angle to the wind until you slowly start to learn what angles make you go faster and what angles are slower. then you can learn/practice a little on letting out some of the sail and how making the sail tight or making it a little more parachut-y (loose) affects the speed and how the angle of attack and everything affects everything else.
1 sailing rookie tip is to peddle really fast when making turns as not to loose too much speed when turning from one side of the wind to the other.
1 more tip. if you sail is out and you are going along and all of the sudden you start to go a lot faster than you like, you should let out the right hand black rope quick to put more slack in the sail while turning up into or down away from the wind quickly.
think of the direction the wind is blowing from as always being 12 o'clock, if you start going real fast you want to turn towards 12 or towards 6 fast.
when you want to pull your sail out it is easiest to point towards 12 (so the wind is blowing directly in your face, and paddle towards 12 while you let out say 33-50% of the sail, then cleat down all your ropes so that everything is tight and practice sailing around like this until you feel you can let out 100% of the sail comfortably.
if its really windy maybe you only need to have out 33-50% of your sail the entire time to still have fun