Until the early 1980’s, sails were built to a cross-cut design with their panels running horizontally from leech to luff. With Radial sails, the panels are brought together with the stress pattern. This way, the loads run through each panel at a relatively constant angle, instead of crossing them at different angles as they do with a cross-cut sail.

Today, the SailMaker™sail design software created in 1984 by Jim Lidgard, one of New Zealand's top sail designers, is permanently updated to stay at the leading edge of the technology. It is used by more than 160 independent Sailmakers around the world and by several designers of other top sail making groups.
Panel orientation is the result of exhaustive modeling on Relax, the only highly developed stress analysis program specially created to provide the answers needed by the modern sail making industry. Stress analysis is a major step forward in CAD sail making from mould programs such as SailMaker™.
To compare the sails on water with the original moulds is a primary part of our ongoing R&D program. Photos from high resolution digital cameras are fed into the design computer and measured in SailShooter™, a program developed in San Diego by Sail Science during the Tag Heuer America's Cup campaign

Paneled sails are available in several types of fabrics Carbon, Kevlar, Pentex, and Polyester. Several other types of materials are available for special needs. We use fabrics from both Bainbridge and Contender.