I agree with you 100 percent on using paddling skills rather than mechanical devices to control weathercocking.

But I promise that I wasn't on drugs last night when I came up with the idea of an anti-skeg to control weathercocking. Located near the bow of the boat and deployed upwards through the deck. Since you can see it you always know if its deployed and how much. It doesn't require a hole through the hull. It is less susceptible to getting sand and grit in the mechanism. I thought about using a small sail, but came back to the idea of a hard anti-skeg for simplicity and reliability.