Yeah, this was the first major disappointment I had with the game, 5 minutes after installing it.
I found if you go into map mode in the world editor you can paint in the 'go to europe' tiles a little closer to the northeastern coast, which is certainly the way ships heading for England anyway would probably have gone.
Still, it's pretty lame that you need to do this at all. With such limited map options on release you think someone at Firaxis would have play tested this one a little better. The only halfway decent New World map in the game, and its guaranteed to boil down to the Battle of Brazil each and every single time. Despite the fact that its a 'huge' map, it's probably easier to control the seas on this one than any other. Sid Meier should be embarrassed to have his name on this. But then 2K probably owns the rights to his name, so maybe he's as upset as I am.