Oh I have so totally been there and done that. This is why I always start out of Wilhelmshaven, I ran aground so many times trying to get out of the Baltic into the North Sea that Denmark finally took out a restraining order.
Another little thing you might want to know about plotting courses, if you haven't discovered it already... you want to zoom in REALLY close on the map when you do it if you are plotting a course near land.
Turns out a lot of those "straight" shorelines at low magnification get really "jagged" up close, with lots of little bits that stick out into the water. I plotted a course right over top of one of the little jagged spits of land and didn't realize it until the crew starting screaming about all the damage we were taking.
