Racing a MiniCup

Today, the local yacht club had a race for sailboats less than 14'
length so I took one of t MiniCups to the coast. I got there just as
the 1st race started so I never got an idea of the course. Most of the
other boats were Puffins although there was an Oday and a few other
types. My MiniCup was definitely the ugly duckling of the bunch as I
had never painted her after fixing leaks in her bottom. What remains
if her old orange paint is peeling and mildewed and even my best sewn
polytarp sail is a little too big for the spars.
With very light and shifting wind and not knowing the course, I came in
waaaaaaaaaaaaaay after last in the first two races. Finally, I got the
course and start figured out although I never did figurre out what the
start signal was. At the beginning of the 3rd race, the seabreeze
picked up to about 10 kts, perfect for the MiniCup. I found I could
almost twirl her in one spot by jibing and coming back around to keep a
good starting position but still well behind he others since I didnt
want to interfere with any of the serious racers. I figured they had
started when I saw them cross the line so I started too, well behind
the pack. Amazingly, I caught up with most of em and passed about half
of them. When we approached the first mark, I was going to have the
position nearest the mark but everybody was edging in on me so I
decided to allow them to go round it first cuz I dont know the rules.
This put me well behind again but soon i caught up with them again and
passed some of them. The same thing happened at the second mark and I
allowed them to go round it first. On the way to the thrird mark, I
passed a couple boats and kept trying to get to windward of one boat
but she wouldnt let me and we kept going with my bow about two inches
from her stern for awhile before I decided to drop off and go downwind
of her. I actually managed to come in in the middle of the pack. I
think that if I knew some of the rules, I would have done much better.