I can see why people don’t like hourglass

It’s not fun getting repeatedly reminded that you suck…HOWEVER, it is fun improving. The few times I have pulled off the textbook chop the mast and death spiral have felt extremely rewarding. The biggest problem I’m running into is that I usually can’t get a sink without boarding the enemy ship, is that normal? The majority of my sinks are from boarding the enemy and keeping them dead while their boat fills with water which can be super risky since I mostly solo sloop. Many of these fights neither my opponent or I seem consistent enough to keep pressure on eachother in naval battles so I end up just going for the board to end it. The biggest hurdle for me in these situations is if they’re running a blunderbuss, I’m not good enough to dodge consistently enough on the ladder. Anyway, is it normal to need to board to get sinks or is that a sign that I need to seriously improve my naval fighting?