High‐order sliding mode control laws with gain adaptation algorithms are applied, in Region III, on a floating offshore wind turbine equipped by permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). These adaptive control methods are especially efficient for systems with uncertainties and external perturbations and are well adapted to wind turbines systems. Such controllers can be implemented with very reduced knowledge of system model (only the relative degree is necessary) and strongly reduce the controller gains tuning effort. Simulations are made on Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures and Turbulence (FAST) software and compared with standard gain‐scheduled proportional–integral (PI) controllers.