Wrinkledpants,I think this one is easy.

1. All the way down is the correct position for the rudders, although you may want to rake them forward for a more sensitive tiller or backward for a stiffer feel. I had to remove my rudder blades and sand them silightly at the bolts because the person I bought the boat from had painted them and the paint was causing them to stick. If the rudders are not all the way down you will have more of a struggle with the tiller, especially in that type of wind. And the lack of a jib would tend the boat to point into the wind, so you would be fighting this also. When I'm sailing out in shallow water, and I have the rudders partially up the difference in the ammount of pull is HUGE. To the point that in heavier wind I have litteraly had to grab the cross bar with both hands, dig a heel into the tramp lacing and pull like hell.

2. It seems obvious that a higher ratio is what you need but there may be a technical or class legal reason why you can't.

3. The daggerboards go all the way down (unless you are in shallow water). And of course there will be many who'll tell you that the windward daggerboard goes up so as to reduce drag. Sailing solo I rarely have time to think about this!

Anyway, Gotta go work. Have a good one