So, has anyone else noticed the single-mindedness of people when playing seafarers to beeline it to the gold plot?

My brother was in a game where he let the other two players race to the gold, and he hung back and squandered what was left and ignored, and he won.

Then again, three player games tend to allow a little more room for expansion than 4 player games. 4 player games get crowded FAST, especially when people keep using up hexes by building settlments 3 vertices appart as opposed to only 2 vertices apart!