JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The two objects were unmistakable from the Egan Drive traffic.

Large kites, similar in appearance to the ones used by paragliders in the summer, sailed gently above Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge on a rainy December afternoon. Below the flying instruments were two black dots, kiteboarders, grasping a small bar to steer themselves across the watery landscape. As the kites cruised across the top of the channel, so too did the drysuit-clad bodies some 60 feet below.

“Did you see my air?!’’ Rob Cadmus said to his kiteboarding companion after unclipping from...