For your practice days...
I suggest that you start by perfecting your maneuvering & docking skills on perfectly calm days, in an area with no current (hopefully such conditions occasionally exist in the PNW!) This will give you a good "foundation" as you will have a clearer understanding of how the boat responds to your actions if there's no interference from "the elements". Then, you can graduate to perfecting your skills under more typical weather/current conditions.