As mentioned before, the single most important consideration is reducing sail early and conservatively. Unless your boat has been beefed up, it can't take extremely high loads. Not to worry provided your rigging is in good shape and you keep up a conservative amount of sail.
The only real differences between "blue water" sailing and coastal sailing are that you are more likely to be dealing with greater forces, and you are farther from help should you need it.
You can mitigate much of the first risk by knowing your boat well - knowing what it does under severe conditions, and by carrying less sail than you think you need. (Most of the time, particularly in stiffer winds, you'll actually make better speeds with less sail.) Avoid the temptation to wait a bit and see if it lets up, or to carry a bit of extra sail to make good time.
Heaving to, as mentioned, is also an important skill. It helps you mitigate the risk of being a long ways from help. Heaving to lets you tend to matters other than sailing even in some of the worst conditions.
Of course, there is a great deal that goes into boat, skipper, and crew preparation, but that information is widely available. I would say that if you don't have a pretty good idea of what is involved in that regard, it may be a bit premature to venture out. I'm assuming you're looking for advice specific to your boat (or boats like it).
Also, bear in mind that your boat is not quite as stable as many more "bullet proof" blue water boats. It is not unstable by any means, but it does mean that you will get knocked around a bit if you don't pay attention to the wave action. You've got decent freeboard, but not so much that you can be caught not paying attention when a big wave hits. Staying dry is largely a function of staying aware. But, in open water, what's coming can often be blocked by the wave right next to you, so ...
Make sure your hatches are capable of reasonably tight seals, and keep them closed whenever seas pick up. Also, I'm not sure about your boat in particular, but on mine (a 1972), the cockpit drainage is a bit lacking. Two scuppers drain into the engine well which drains overboard through a single 1.25" hole. Lots of opportunities for that system to become ineffective. If I was venturing out, I think I'd make that drainage a bit more liberal. One small thing you can do is simply remove the scupper covers in the cockpit. This effectively doubles your drainage rate. (You can put them back in later.)
reading it a book or watching a DVD is great but at some point you need to do it. Go out in bad weather, heave to, put in a reef, sail around in big waves, and have fun