A friend recently explained how Molded Sails are made after working with and visiting the North Sails factory. As the name suggests, these huge sails are laid up in one piece over an electronically adjustable mold bed. This mold has been designed to form the correct volume for the optimum performance. Eliminating the need for conventional sewn seams removes vulnerable stress points and leaves a perfectly seamless curved volume which delivers better airflow. The specific high-strength and low-stretch fibres (Dyneema, Kevlar or Carbon Fiber) are orientated across the sail in the molding process to give the optimum strength across the volume. All the machinery to lay up the sail is controlled by data from a CAD file produced by the sail design engineer. The final process uses robotic heaters and a giant vacuum bag to apply pressure and cure the sail to it’s fixed curved form. This sail will ever be flat!