Im sick of spending hours grinding only to lose sweats in seconds

Recently, the game has been dominated by extremely high-skill “sweat” crews who constantly hunt down casual players.

You mean Pirates?

These players often camp, chase for long periods, or immediately sink new or solo crews, making it very hard to enjoy normal gameplay such as voyages, exploration, or events.

So the PvP part of the PvPvE game is what causing you problems.

Casual crews stand no chance, and it discourages players from wanting to continue playing.

Well, Good News.
Safer Seas is the place you got to be playing on.

Better skill-based matchmaking

But...your not joining a server based on matchmaking...

A protected mode or safer onboarding for casual/solo players

Explain. You have tools to protect yourself, many infact.

Systems to discourage constant chasing or spawn-camping

Nothing discourages, only makes the thrill of the chase. Heck...you Run = You have stuff, which is often why they chase.

But again...You have Safer Seas...

Reaper Fortresses have been very popular so if you are pulling up on one of those expect to be engaged.

Don't stack loot if you are 'grinding for hours'. Sell.

If you are staying on one server think about storing some Black Kegs to defend against chasers.
Beware! They are an equal opportunities sploder.
More often than not rather than a skill gap between crews it is just un-even numbers.

Arguably the introduction of Smuggler Kegs has been a good Equaliser - a Kequaliser if you will - to address the imbalance between small and large ships.
Get your own back. Row towards Galleons, Brigs and Reapers at Forts with a payload and make 'em go BOOM.

Don’t carry what you can’t bear losing
Safer seas is a casual and protected place for onboarding
I do agree numbers is more often the problem unless it’s a galley full of brand new players.

👍 Agree.