One thing I didn't see in the existing runs on this game is holding the B button while sailing—which speeds up the game immensely, it's really a huge timesave!

I checked the manual here -https://segaretro.org/images/0/05/Pirates_Gold_MD_US_Manual.pdf - just to be sure it was documented and it is, on page 13.

I played the game for years in my childhood and never discover that xD (well, i didn't had the manual). It's really cool that you find this, it makes the game more agile; nice strat!