I tried to google it and it left me very confused.
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Let’s start first with an airplane moving forward. An airplane wing is horizontal and its top surface is curved more than the bottom surface. As the air (wind) moves over the wings, because of the curved top the air moves faster over the top surface of the wing than it does over the bottom. The curved top means the air has further to travel. That further distance makes the air move faster. A principal called Bernoulli’s theorem tells us that as the speed of air increases the pressure decreases. So that curved surface of the wing is giving us less pressure on the top of the wing. Less pressure on the top means more pressure on the bottom. This is what creates lift and the plane flies.
Now take that horizontal wing and move it vertically. You now have the same shape as the sail. One side is curved more than the other. As the boat moves into the wind, air moves, faster on one side of the sail than the other, and this creates lift. The wind is essentially pulling the boat forward.
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