How can sailboats move forward into the direction of the wind by using their sail?

Question

I don’t get how this is physically possible if the direction you want to go is literally the opposite direction of the way the wind is blowing. How can it ‘push’ them the opposite way it is going?

In: 20

Answer 1

Here’s an interesting article from SciAm:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-one-can-explain-why-planes-stay-in-the-air/

The title is a bit of click bait. It’s lends credence to the contribution of both low pressure (Bernoulli) and mass force (Newton) and notes that the two combined do not fully address the total lifting forces seen in flight.

There’s an addition region of low pressure air that forms just behind the front top area of the wing that neither theory accounts.