Harness the Breeze: Eleven Wind Sports Worth Trying
Date: February 16, 2026A good breeze is a terrible thing to waste. From open water to frozen lakes to desert flats, people have found ways to harness the wind on just about every surface imaginable. Here are eleven of our favorites.
Sailing
You could argue that sailing is less a sport than a way of life; and plenty of people will, at length, over drinks. It’s the wind sport with the deepest roots and the broadest range. Whether you’re drawn to the competition, the adventure, or the simple pleasure of moving through water under wind power alone, it’s hard to beat.
Iceboating
Iceboating is what happens when sailors refuse to wait for the thaw. The “boat” consists of a lightweight frame with a sail and steel runners. With almost no friction to slow things down, even a modest breeze can push you past 60 mph (making it the fastest wind sport on this list).
Windsurfing
Windsurfing mounts a free-rotating sail on a surfboard and hands you the controls. There’s no rudder, no wheel, just the angle of the mast and the position of your body. The result is one of the most exhilarating ways to move across water. It’s fast, physical, and wildly addictive once it clicks.
Kiteboarding
Kiteboarding borrows its stance from wakeboarding but replaces the tow rope and boat with a power kite and a stiff breeze. The result is faster, freer, and comes with the added bonus of occasional flight. The current kiteboarding jump records are in excess of 130 feet (about 40 meters).
Wing Boarding
Wing boarding (also called wing foiling) is the new kid on the block. It borrows the hydrofoils that have become popular in other wind sports and pairs them with a large inflatable wing. If you’ve seen someone gliding silently above the water holding what looks like a giant air mattress, now you know what it was.
RC Sailing
Don’t let the size fool you. RC sailboats are wind-powered, tactically complex, and raced under the same basic rules as their full-sized counterparts. The boats are small, but the competition is full-sized.
Kite Boating
Photo credit: Extramarine
Kite boating takes the power kite concept and scales it up—instead of strapping into a board, you hitch the kite to a boat. The result is a surprisingly fast, engine-free ride that splits the difference between sailing and kiteboarding and looks unlike anything else on the water.
Land Sailing
Land sailing (or kite buggying) takes the whole operation ashore. A power kite or a rigid sail, a three-wheeled buggy, and a flat stretch of beach or desert are all you need to reach speeds that feel distinctly inadvisable for something with no brakes.
Land Boarding
Land boarding pairs a power kite with a mountainboard, an oversized skateboard with off-road wheels, and turns any open field into a playground. It’s fast, physical, and one of the few wind sports where your biggest obstacle might be a gopher hole.
Snow Kiting
Snow kiting (or kite skiing) harnesses a power kite to pull you across frozen terrain on skis or a snowboard. Snow kiting turns open snow into a wind-powered playground—no lift ticket required.
Power Kiting
Power kites are the engine behind half the sports on this list, but flying one without attaching it to anything is its own kind of thrill. Controlling a large kite in a stiff wind is more physical than it looks, and it’s the first step for anyone eyeing the towed sports above.