Ok heres from what i know because i had the sme problem. A friend who sails a hobie 17 who is very very good and i would say can sail the a hobie 17 faster than any other hobie 17 sailor in Australia. As for the hobie 17 the hobie 16 you cant choose where you want the mast to sit unless you fine or put a mast stopper. He told me the more mast rotation you have the more power normally. The only problem is in heavy winds you want your sail full and flat. To do so you really want the mast as close to the center as possible but then you have a problem because you want to make it rotate more. I own a 1986 Hobie 16 and i had old sails and it wouldn't point what so ever and the mast rotated very easily and was sitting way past where the normal hobie 16 sits. When i went to a regatta i was getting killed in hight so i went out and bought a new sail and a new mast stopper. I raked my mast again because the 2 sails raked differently and im pointing alot higher and have alot more power.

In all this i noticed i was paying to much to the mast raking and mast rotation. Where ever your mast sits leave it because they set it for all conditions. If you sail in an area with no wind then maybe i would file it back but other than that i wouldn't worry. you get more power from new sails and rigging your boat properly!!

Have fun and just get out there and sail!!