For me, weather helm is the angle of the rudder, period. I'd use heavy or light helm to describe the steering effort, or just call it steering effort. My boat has a bit of weather helm but almost zero helm effort- some people find that strange.
It is a beautiful cassette rudder designed by Ian Farrier. There are adjusting bolts in the cassette that change the rudder position slightly and I have it set for very little effort. The weather helm results from sail and foil balance. I'll skip my rant about "leeway" here, but my boat does not have any of it <_< I sail at a slight angle of attack. Everything I've read about drag suggests that in the end a small angle of attack for the hull has a positive lift/drag benefit, and a slight bit of weather helm does so as well.
It is a beautiful cassette rudder designed by Ian Farrier. There are adjusting bolts in the cassette that change the rudder position slightly and I have it set for very little effort. The weather helm results from sail and foil balance. I'll skip my rant about "leeway" here, but my boat does not have any of it <_< I sail at a slight angle of attack. Everything I've read about drag suggests that in the end a small angle of attack for the hull has a positive lift/drag benefit, and a slight bit of weather helm does so as well.