One of the areas in which Pirates of the Burning Sea departs from reality for the sake of gameplay is the wind. The huge amounts of time required to sail upwind over the large distances that exist in the carribean would mean spending an hour to get to the next port over. While tacking and wearing are interesting activities (and which one to do is an interesting decision) on a tactical level when you're fighting or fleeing, they are also extremely time consuming modes of travel and just aren't fun.