Naval battles in Pathfinder

Question for all you experienced Pathfinder players & GMs.  In my current campaign session the players are going to need to get a sailing ship to get back home.  They will more than likely need to steal it from port in a pirate town and the pirates re not going to like that!.  I was planning on having this sailing chase that resulted in a sea battle.  The ships will be fitted with ballista and catapult as gun powder does not exist in my world.  Does anyone have any suggestions for running the ship chase and subsequent battle?  I have some thoughts but just want to hear if anyone else has done anything along these lines.   Oh and the PCs don't have any experience with ships or sailing but they could possibly have access to a trained crew (if they free them from the pirate prison). thanks

I would suggesting making the ships into characters with stats of their own and start off the chase on a larger map. Let each player have something to do, such as commanding one of the ballistas, climbing the rigging to fix the sails or motivating the crew by a dramatic speech and make the speed of the ship dependent on how well the players handle these tasks. When or if the ships come close to each other you can switch to a detailed map and resolve the combat that will arise the normal way.

I am not really sure if you are seeking advice about using the mechanical aspects of the tabletop or rules to guide you. Peter made some great points and I would recommend making the ships into tokens and scale the maps as needed. Yarrrrr! If it be naval combat  rules ye seek Pathfinder introduced them in Skull and Shackles and Frog God Games created what some feel are superior in Fire as she bears. Yarrr. Anyway good gaming matey and may fair winds keep ye on course.

Scott, Are you requesting help for macros creation or suggestions on what maps or tokens to use for your campaign? Do to the wording of your post it fails under our intended use clause of the CoC. Due to time constraints in keeping Roll20 going, we only allow discussion directly related to the interface here on the forums. You might try Wizard's forums , the D&D subreddit , or the pazio forums for your question. I will be closing this thread but if you wish to reword your post, you can post it in the specific forums.