It's actually quite fun, especially when you get tail wind.

These days though, I find it scary when traversing the ocean during storms. Twice have I been attacked by sea serpents and twice (out of a few other times), the karve went down. Fortunately, whatever was in the hold, floated as cargo. So I could retrieve them.

Anyway, I hope the devs implement more ways to move and make them move faster via player passengers and oars for the long ship.