Editing Sail components (section)

===Panels and laminations===
[[File:Hals (Großsegel).jpg|thumb|Sail detail at the tack of a mainsail, showing various types of seam stitches where ''panels'' join, ''bolt ropes'' in the luff and foot, and two ''[[cringle]]s''.]]
Conventional sails comprise panels, which are most often stitched together, at other times adhered. There are two basic configurations, ''cross-cut'' and ''radial''. ''Cross-cut'' sails have the panels sewn parallel to one another, often parallel to the foot of the sail, and are the less expensive of the two sail constructions. Triangular cross-cut sail panels are designed to meet the mast and stay at an angle from either the warp or the weft (on the [[Grain (textile)#Bias|bias]]) to allow stretching along the luff, but minimize strutting on the luff and foot, where the fibers are aligned with the edges of the sail.<ref name = Colgate>
{{cite book
 | last = Colgate
 | first = Stephen
 | title = Fundamentals of Sailing, Cruising, and Racing
 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
 | date = 1996
 | pages = 384
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MMP841X5Ke4C&pg=PA258
 | isbn = 9780393038118 }}</ref>

''Radial'' sails have panels that "radiate" from corners in order to efficiently transmit stress and are typically higher-performance than cross-cut sails. A ''bi-radial'' sail has panels radiating from two of three corners; a ''tri-radial'' sail has panels radiating from all three corners. Mainsails are more likely to be bi-radial, since there is very little stress at the tack, whereas head sails (spinnakers and jibs) are more likely to be tri-radial, because they are tensioned at their corners.<ref name = Hancock/>

Higher-performance sails may be laminated, constructed directly from multiple plies of [[Thread (yarn)|filament]]s, [[fiber]]s, [[taffeta]]s, and [[Plastic film|films]]—instead of woven textiles—and adhered together.  ''Molded sails'' are laminated sails formed over a curved mold and adhered together into a shape that does not lie flat.<ref name = Hancock/>

Where a sail may rub against a spreader on the mast, a [[spreader patch]] may be placed on a jib, when it overlaps with the mast,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TVvAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |title=The Annapolis Book of Seamanship: Fourth Edition |last=Rousmaniere |first=John |date=2014-01-07 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781451650242 |language=en}}</ref> or on the mainsail, where it may interfere when [[Furl (sailing)|furled]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbA2Sw1wqGQC&pg=RA7-PA25 |title=There's the rub |last=Neal |first=Tom |date=January 1995 |work=Cruising World |location=Newport, Rhode Island |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref> or when the sail is backwinded against the [[Mast (sailing)|mast]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2JIbS0c1XPwC&pg=PA185 |title=The New Book of Sail Trim |last=Textor |first=Ken |date=1995 |publisher=Sheridan House, Inc. |isbn=9780924486814 |pages=185 |language=en}}</ref>
<gallery>
 Zagiel horyzont.svg|Cross-cut panels
 Zagiel birad.svg|Bi-radial panels
 Zagiel gwiazda.svg|Tri-radial panels
</gallery>