Kitesurfing or kiteboarding, uses wind power to pull a rider through the water on a small surfboard or a kiteboard (which is like a wakeboard). The most popular style of kitesurfing is freestyle which involves big jumps and rotations at the intermediate level and fully powered wakestyle moves at world cup level.

A kitesurfer or kiteboarder uses a board with or without foot-straps or bindings, combined with the power of a large controllable kite to propel him- or herself and the board across the water. Most of the kites used have inflatable struts that make it easy to relaunch the kite when it drops in the water

The sport is becoming safer due to innovations in kite design, safety release systems, and instruction and it is now accessible to all sorts of riders who may not have tried it in the early days due it's extreme nature.

Kitesurfing is one of many forms of kite propulsion, which include kite landboarding, snowkiting, kite buggying, kite skateboarding, kite jumping, and using kites to propel sea kayaks. A kite can even propel a large ship.

To get started in kitesurfing, it is essential the beginners take some lessons. Due to the powerful nature of the kites there are many good practices and lessons that should be learnt under the supervision of a qualified instructor.