Yeah the PvE system is pretty terrible.
Or the claming system I should say.
Being able to claim someone's house or whatever is dumb and needs to be fixed asap.
I'm not a fan of this flag system but on PvP it can at least make some sense.
I'm having the same problem.
Spawned and made a raft, traveled north but decided to spawn somewhere else due to the cold.
Now I can't get past lvl 8. I tried going back to my raft, sailing into the port zone and then out again..didnt do anything.