As far as my intrepretation of it goes, you can dock and move onto another character somewhere else. But DO NOT attempt to use that other character to come back after that pirate. That is the no no. Basically the way I see it is that technically once you dock and F1, you lost the combat situation and coming back to fight him with a different character would violate the re-engagement rules. Correct me if Im wrong anybody.
<span style="color:#FF0000"><strike>RETIRED</strike></span>
ON MY WAY OUT OF RETIREMENT