dunno if this will be in the PC version but I have seen gameplay videos from the Xbox360/PS3 version showing that health regenerates as long as you don't take damage (for ship and kenway). but yes looks like using ships and naval battles will be more inclusive in this game then in ACIII so hopefully we will get inf ship and player health. looking forward to this game as I have the Gold Edition pre-ordered
The ship's life/armor only repairs itself if you keep the damage from completely wiping out the section. In short, your ship has three large units of health, and based on your armor those three sections are subdivided. However if you lose an entire unit, then it doesn't regenerate outside of combat, but rather you need to go to a harbor master and get it repaired. Ship repairs are incredibly cheap, but still, regeneration is only to a point; apparently there's only so much repair that can be done at sea.
Gold edition? Never heard of that one.
the Gold Edition comes with the game, Season Pass which giuves access to a lot of the DLC for the game. here is a link from gamestop
www.gamestop.com/pc/games/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-gold-edition/112117