Shallow water has less current in it. To avoid current sail on the shallow side of the course unless wind pressure trumps going out of your way to aviod current. If it is the same across the course everyone else has to deal with it too. So, sail the best course as you would without current and just remember the current will affect your laylines. One tack the current will help on the other it will hurt. Which tack has the advantage depends on the set up of the course, wind direction, mark position and so on. Try to stay on the advantage tack the most.
That aside, if the current is in fact uniform, as mentioned already the lee-bow effect doesn't really matter- everyone is uniformly pushed down the course. What will matter is boatspeed- if you're going strait into the current, you have the current working to directly kill your boatspeed. If you sail across the current, you don't lose forward speed. So unless the wind is directly up-current, try to find the tack that is more perpendicular to the current flow.
The only way to get extra lift from current is to anchor or stand on the bottom!