I have to agree with everyone here on all their opinions! The naval battles are something that make ETW alone worth playin, while i'm not a total realistic naval nut, I have played a couple of other naval games and while I didn't realise in ETW the sailing against the wind was that bad its a very good point that sailingagainst the wind should be imposible, my favourite sailing combat game so far would have to be age of pirates and sailing into the wind certainly stopped you in your tracks mostly, and in sid meiers pirates it certainly had an effect on your battles.

anyway long story short, It would be nice to have the option to choose it :)