Windrose Ship Combat Tips — Broadside, Tacking & Boarding

Take the windward gauge. Always engage from upwind — you choose the range, they don’t.
Open with chain shot. Cripple the sails first, then close in with round shot.
Never expose your stern. Stern rake hits unprotected hull tiles and crits.
Repair below decks during reload. Crew that mans the pumps adds 2 HP/s to hull.
Save before boarding. Boarding has a known bug where dying lands you on a different island. See save guide.
Drop the anchor mid-fight. Anchor halts you but lets a stationary broadside reload faster.
Heated shot for big targets only. 2 gunpowder per shot is expensive — save for Brigantines+.
Grapeshot the boarding parties early. Two grape shots into a boarding rowboat clears it in 1 volley.
Use the spyglass. Hovering over an enemy ship with the glass reveals their cannon count.
Run if you are outgunned. Enemy ships break aggro at 800m. Sail upwind and disengage.

The boarding death bug

Several Steam reviews note: “Jumped to board, died, respawned on land, lost an hour.” Until Patch 0.8 fixes the respawn anchor on boarding, ALWAYS sleep at the wharf bed before any boarding action.