I find the two card rule, not only annoying but also not based in reality. If I turn the wheel on a (admittedly small brig) square sailed ship she reacts in a second as long as there's at least a few knots of speed. A agree that if turning a lot some sails have to be adjusted and that may take a few minutes, but avoiding a collision is easy even without use of boarding pikes.

It is though an interesting gaming mechanic. Perhaps it could be better fitting to a game with higher speeds och more cumbersome ships like supertankers.