Scared of Misspending points.. are there respecs?

[Steely Jim]

There's a good example of points I'm considering spending in Sailing. I'm going to have 4 points to spend, but I wish I had 6. However it goes, 2 of those points will go into 5/5 Taskmaster and Tacking; for the other 2 points, I still haven't decided whether to finally unlock Windcatcher for 2/5 or put the final 2 points in each broadside (for 5/5 in each).

I'm leaning towards Windcatcher because that will bring my war sloop close to what my light frigate was, in terms of raw speed. The broadsides would be nice too, but I can already 1-hit any light vessel with my war galleon and I spend most of my time in my war sloop anyway, using more of a 50/50 mix with Cannon. I don't really need the Windcatcher either, so I guess I could put points in either of the Sailing skills that I never opened Open Fire and Ramming Speed. I can create all the combat speed I need with Full Sail, and even long-cruising with the war galleon is that bad with 0/5 Windcatcher....that's usually when I start swing back towards maxing the broadsides.

I don't mind not opening skills. I read the manual through twice before I ever logged into the game; I didn't fully commit to a plan without trying it out, but I already had a good idea of what I didn't think I 'd want based on crunching the numbers available in the manual. So, for example, I don't have the popular Flourish skill at all; but, I am holding several points for the much less popular Thrust. However, before I'd even logged into the game, I'd decided to construct Steely James Rooke as a parry-riposte style swordfighter; and, regardless of how the game changes, Steely Jim will always be a parry-riposte swordfighter...that's part of the logical continuity of the character within the game world.

EDIT: I use the dagger for fast damage against single foes, not the cutlass. I use the cutlass as a defensive weapon.