Dumb question

[Ed_Shannon]

Hi Brion, I’m hoping that you’ll indulge a novice sailor and answer a question that’s stuck in my head. Here goes… why is it that when I loose the windward clutch on my traveler the car doesn’t immediately slam to the leeward side? There is tremendous wind pressure on the sail and therefore on the boom so it seems to me that it should simply push the traveler car down the track. Is it simply that the upward pressure exceeds the lateral pressure or what?