The 3DL Difference

There are essential differences between a thermo-molded 3DL^® sail and any other sail made today. Though other sails attempt to look like 3DL, it remains unchallenged as the dominant racing sail technology worldwide. Here’s why...

1. More efficient structure. Only 3DL is manufactured as a unitary membrane on full-sized 3-dimensional molds, unlike all other sailmaking systems that assemble sails from flat pieces of material. 3DL structural yarns are laid on the mold in the precise 3-dimensional space they will occupy when flying, and run in continuous paths across the sail with no seams to distort or interfere with load transition.

RESULT: 3DL harnesses wind power more efficiently than any other sail.

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2. Unparalleled precision. No other sailmaking process approaches the accuracy of 3DL in replicating a designed shape. 3DL molds are scanned by lasers to verify shape within imperceptible tolerances. The laminate is then thermo-formed on the mold in a manner similar to a shrink-wrap process. The sail you get is the precise flying shape the sail designer created.

RESULT: Smoother and faster sail shapes built with guaranteed repeatability.

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3. Larger sweet spot. All sails have a “sweet spot;” a wind range where they perform at their optimum, and no sail delivers a bigger sweet spot than North 3DL. Only 3DL sails are thermo-molded in their optimum flying shape, so they assume this shape quickly in light winds. And because 3DL structural yarns are laid on the mold in the precise 3-dimensional space they will occupy when flying, they lock in the sail’s designed shape longer. This translates into a larger sweet spot (see illustration), which means optimum sail drive over a broader wind range and fewer costly sail changes.

RESULT: Speed that’s always turned on.