A little idea I just thought of.
Occasionally on the seas you will come across intermittent strong Gusts of wind that only last for a few seconds or so. They will show as a yellow trail line instead of white.
You only have a short window but if you catch it in time you get a significant speed boost.
This means that when fleeing ships or persuing you must pay extra attention to your sails to maximise potential speed and close the distance.
In a way this will enable you to close the distance and also gain distance in a ship chase
You only have a short window though, thereby reward the ship with the most attention on their sails.
Very uninstrusive yet adding a bit more depth to sailing.
