I tried to google it and it left me very confused.
In: 306
A boat angles its sails depending on the direction of the wind. When a boat is travelling *downwind* (away from the wind), the wind is *blowing* on the sails to push the boat.
When a boat is travelling *upwind* the air is *sucked* between the mainsail and foresail, like air around an airplane wing, pulling the boat forward. (Well, technically, pulling the boat sideways but it has a keel underwater to resist lateral movement, so the boat moves in the direction of the pointy end, the bow, because that’s the course of least resistance).
Note, a boat cannot sail directly into the wind (a position called “irons” in which the sails flap, or “luff”), but must instead attack the wind from a slight angle, tacking or zig-zagging back and forth to move along the desired trajectory.
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