LOL! Yes, I found that too, though I did enjoy my first trip or two through it. Now I employ a Kiel Canal Pilot and sit back for a few minutes while we transit.

You must change your time compression for when near land and I have done this using SC3 Commander. I have eventually upped it to 64x for near land and that is the slowest I go through. If I have plotted my course very carefully to be as near midstream as possible, I can navigate other parts of it at 2048x! (Always on the nav map, of course for the whole trip.) HTH.