No, the two forces don't cancel out, I can't remember exactly why but elastic collisions don't work like that. That's why you can point a fan into your sailboat's sail and it will still go forward, mythbusters proved it.
Mythbusters demonstrated something different, and something much less efficient than simply pointing the fan backwards like a normal fan boat (no sail required). Here: https://mythresults.com/blow-your-own-sail