Rudderless...

[Wavedancer]

Quite some time ago, I was in a week-long Laser 'camp' with an instructor who told us to practice 'rudderless' sailing. Not really rudderless, because the rudder was left in the water, but we did tie the tiller with shock cord to the strap. No hands on the tiller, obviously. It was a good exercise, I thought, learning to steer the boat just by shifting your body around.
Now that I am usually sailing by myself and need some educational 'entertainment', I wonder whether this exercise is actually a good one.
Are there other/better ways to practice 'body steering'?

Input please
ISA are you listening?

 

[Eyeper]

When the wind is light this is pretty easy. I tie the tiller down straight. Crawl up and stand or sit in front of the mast. Lean the boat and you will quickly see which way it turns. You can go miles like that. And then the wind usually pipes up and you're glad you took the mainsheet with you.

 

[Riv]

Probably one of the best boat handling exercises. I have s loop of strong bungee tied around the toe strap ropes. I can easily lift the end of the loop over the end of the tiller. Laser is easy to sail in F2 upwind mainsheet only. However sitting down does limit your choices so stand up. This allows you to move up and down the boat fast. You can then gybe standing up on the back of the boat. The Laser is the only boat I know with a completely flat unobstructed non slip deck. It's an ideal playboat for rudderless. You can have lots of fun standing in front of the mast dead downwind. Also try lifting the board to balance the boat.