As a sport, kitesurfing has a lot of cousins. Most often, kitesurfing is confused with parasailing, because each of them has a colorful canopy up in the air and the rider is hanging underneath, and from afar they look pretty similar, yet this is the extent of their similarities. Parasailers use a boat to pull the passenger while Kitesurfers use the kite to generate the power. In parasailing Riders have no control of what is happening to them, their speed and altitude are controlled by people on the boat. Kitesurfers are like pilots, they control everything: their own speed, the altitude of the kite, direction of their travel. Parasailers spend most of their time up in the air, kitesurfers can jump every now and then and spend most of their time riding on the surface of the water.
Paragliders use very similar equipment, in fact, lots of kites are made by the same companies that manufacture paragliders. The main difference between the two is that kitesurfers spend most of their time riding on the surface of the water, paragliders spend all of their time in the air never touching the ground between takeoff and Landing. Another difference is in the direction we are facing: as kitesurfers, we look downwind, paragliders are facing the wind, they look up wind. Also, paragliders don’t have a board, we do!
Hang gliders are very different from kitesurfing because they have an aluminum frame, they only fly, no water is needed, and they don’t need the wind. If anything, hang gliders maybe related to windsurfing, as the shape of the wing resembles the shape of the sail.
Classical surfers use a board that can be used to buy kitesurfers. The only modification we would do is we would attach foot straps to the board to hold on to it while jumping.
Windsurfers are our main contenders. Windsurfing is similar to kitesurfing yet is different. We can use their boards to ride. The main difference between the two is in the “drive train”: we use the kite, windsurfers use the sale with a mast and a boom. Another commonality between the two is the fact that we both use harnesses even though windsurfing harness is not as strong as the one designed for kitesurfing. We can still use windsurfing harness especially in the early stages of learning.
Wakeboarding is practically an ingredient of kitesurfing. Our boards are almost identical: the only difference is in the bindings: kitesurfers use slip-in straps and wakeboarders use bindings with lace, Velcro or buckles to secure their feet to the board. We even recommend taking some wakeboarding lessons before getting into kitesurfing. Wakeboarders do not use harnesses and they hold on to the tow bar with their hands, so, having a strong grip would be very useful to practice wakeboarding. In kitesurfing, most of the pull force is applied to the harness, not to the hands.
Snowkiting is actually a kind of kitesurfing, or kiteboarding if you will. The only reason I separated it here is that snowkiting is done on a hard surface like snow or ice and if kite would lift you off the ground lending may not be as soft as it would on the water. This is why I strongly recommend learning to kitesurf on the water because it’s safer. If you don’t have a choice and snowkiting is the only option available to you then please use a smaller kite, smaller than you would on the water. Also, learn how to jump using a kite before getting out on the snow so you would know what it takes to generate the power that can lift you off the ground.
