'Conditioning'

The more sailing you do, the more practice you get and the better sailor you become - there is no way around that :)

There are other things you can do to help with sailing enjoyment. 

Sailing, particularly offshore sailing is an endurance sport, with burst of activities during maneuvres. It does require some strength (or rather strength will make it easier in heavy air, particularly on a light boat like Elise)

So training for a) fast recovery abilities, b) high level of fitness and high metabolism will help stay sharp for longer and c) strong upper body/core and some solid legs will definitely help.

For this, I usually do some sprinting drills once a week (helps teach your heart to recover fast), or spritns on my bike. I also bike to work every day and I bike on a regular basis. It complements sailing too and strengthens my legs (sailing makes heavy use of my upper body, and strong legs do help quite a bit too) and helps with a general level of fitness. 

I like biking/touring because it is also about endurance, and a long time on a very uncomfortable position on a butt aching seat :) (Fiberglass Vs bike saddle, not sure which wins!)

To increase my upper body strength, I do pushups and pullups as well as general weight lifting (you can do this at home for no extra money by lifting up cat litter, or buckets full of water!)

I also like to strenghten my core (abs and lower back) as sailing makes heavy use of these muscles - so does biking. I find biking a nice complement to sailing for that reason as well.

I also enjoy biking because it takes me places, much like sailing. Just another kind of places and because it is the same 'roughness', biking in rain, into head wind, at night, etc...feel similar to challenges sailing in heavy conditions, at night, etc...

Whether you take up another sport, hit the gym, cross training and keeping a high level of general fitness will no doubt help you with your racing on the water!