Weather helm, as pointed out by others, is primarily determined by Mast Rake. That is, where the Centre of Effort is neutral to the Centre of Lateral Resistance, the helm will be neutral. (If this is gobbledegook to you, email me off line.) I think you will find that as you sheet in your main, the weather helm will harden up, and that is normal, as sheeting the main in tends to 'move' the centre of effort somewhat to the stern. Another way of saying the same thing is that as we sheet in the main, the 'balance' between the main and the jib goes in favour of the main.
Try playing with your traveller - try sailing with the main traveller 6" off centre, or 12" off centre, or 18" off centre, and see if that makes a difference.
Where do you set the jib traveller cars? Forward? Mid? Stern?
Where do you sit on the H18? By the shroud when beating? At the rear corner when running? Even at your 190 lbs, that weight has an impact on
boat trim.
What about sail controls? Downhaul, outhaul, batten tension and mast rotator? All of those affect sail draft, and draft determines Centre of Effort.
The beauty of the H18 is that it is extremely tunable. You may want to fool around with alternative settings to see what works for you. We find at our Club that many Hobie sailors haul in the sheets as tight as possible for ALL conditions, which does not always work well. Try shaping your sails and your boat balance according to conditions, especially in lighter winds. We also train all our cat sailors to NEVER cleat the mainsheet, unless they like swimming.
As a last resort, get your boss to send you on Professional Development training course to Ottawa, then finally, you and I can sail 24x7 together. We expect good winds this Fall. If not Ottawa, ask for 'volunteers' on the Forum who can take you sailing on their H18 in Kingston or Syracuse or Rochester or wherever. I think you are fine, you just need more mileage, something we can all do with.
_________________ 2015 H16, with spin, SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..." 'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'
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