don't be afraid if you have smaller ship use chain shots and kill their sails,
smaller ships have mostly better maneuverability,
but even if you are worse in stats don't be afraid and shot few chains
drop their sails to half and run
or better finish their sails,
load grape shots
park it at cca 30° from stern so they cant broadside you, stern guns can hit you sometimes but its few shots.
unload your volleys until you drop their crew and board,
whoala you got yourself new ship you were running from

Originally posted by Edbi:

don't be afraid if you have smaller ship use chain shots and kill their sails,
smaller ships have mostly better maneuverability,
but even if you are worse in stats don't be afraid and shot few chains
drop their sails to half and run
or better finish their sails,
load grape shots
park it at cca 30° from stern so they cant broadside you, stern guns can hit you sometimes but its few shots.
unload your volleys until you drop their crew and board,
whoala you got yourself new ship you were running from

Tips are appreciated. I was just more-or-less making a comment about how zippy those ships are.

Very easy to underestimate them since they look like fat merchants. Maybe a bit over-tuned for the type of ship they are?

caravels were also used as exploration ships so no surprise they are speedy, I think Columbus sailed it when he "discovered" Americas

but back to game if you noticed ships have 2 traits or something like it merchant, warrior etc and they can influence ship stat, like merchant will have bigger cargo and warrior better cannons etc, there also ships which get 15% to stats, its steering wheel(helm) icon

so you can have two same ship types but one can be faster while other can have bigger cargo hold, also how much full cargo is influence sailing stats, this is also influenced by navigator/captain skills and perks

even big ships can be fast, so watch out, but they cant turn so well so it is harder to catch wind so if they chase you try to get them turn to their headwind they will struggle more to get out of it, zikzaking is also good way how to make em lose speed
so as I sad before maneuverability plays big role more than ppl would think, anything can be fast with wind in their sails, sailing straight line, but less ship can turn left right and still keep their speed, also there comes understanding of sail angles, who can go against wind etc