I tried to google it and it left me very confused.
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A lot of people have answered the question, but I think that it should be emphasized that the wind isn’t “pushing” on the sail to propel the boat forward. The wind is blowing *past* the sail. The sail is a wing. That wing generates “lift”. That lift *pulls* the boat in the direction of lift (something less than 90 degrees away from the direction the sail is pointing, just like in an airplane the wing doesn’t point up. It points forward. The wind going over that wing provides lift in the up direction.) and the keel/dagger boards keep the boat from skidding over the surface of the water so that you can maintain direction.
You *can* arrange your sail such that the wind is straight-up pushing on the sail from behind the boat, but that will just cause a bunch of turbulence and very very little actual ‘lift’. It also causes a HUGE risk that a *very* small change in wind direction can cause your sail to come screaming across the boat to slam onto the other side. The problem is that along with the sail, there’s this long-assed pipe holding the bottom of the sail and when it hits you or the crew in the head at 20 knots, it makes the sound “BOOM” which is, coincidentally, it’s name.
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