As long ago as 3500 B.C., the first boat sails were made by cutting and joining multiple pieces of woven cloth. Most sails are still assembled in a similar - if more sophisticated - manner, typically using woven polyesters, But after 5,500 years, the world of sailing is witnessing the early days of a sailmaking revolution. In the early 1990s, Swiss sailors and sailmakers Luc Dubois and J.P. Baudet developed a method for making a one-piece sail. Commercialized by North Sails (Milford, Conn.) at its Minden, Nev. facility as the 3DL process, the method makes a sail free of the dimensional inaccuracies and uneven loading that are unavoidable in an assembled sail. The 3DL sail carries fiber tows in the primary load paths (which mainly run corner to corner) laminated between two layers of Mylar film.
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