The kayak kid

Lachine, Skookumchuck, Gauley, Zambezi, White Nile, Futaleufu — the names don’t mean much to most people, but these are some of the world’s biggest whitewater rivers and rapids. And by the end of the school year, 16-year-old Michael “LP” Palmer Jr. of Colorado Springs will have kayaked them all. LP is scheduled to land in Zambia today, but he’s already paddled rivers in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia,

Washington, Montana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, plus earned a second-place finish among junior men in September at the U.S. Freestyle Kayak National Championships in Maryland.

All of this would be unusual for any teenager, but especially one from Colorado Springs, a place not known for its whitewater. Since taking his first class when he was 12, LP has spent every second he can on the water.

“He loves kayaking more than anyone I’ve ever met before,” says coach Josh Bechtel. “The sky’s the limit with that kid.”

All of the Palmers kayak — parents Pam and Michael Sr., and siblings Paul, 12, and Laura, 10. The family has a summer home near Glenwood Springs and they spend the warm months on the Colorado and Roaring Fork rivers — the guys at the kayak shop in Glenwood Springs gave LP his nickname, for “Little Palmer.”

The family hobby quickly became LP’s primary passion, though. His parents would drive him twice a week to Salida or Golden, where he’d paddle in the snow if he had to.

“He’s pretty phenomenal in a boat,” Michael Palmer Sr. says. “I’m just happy to get down the river alive.”

Now, LP’s knuckles are scraped raw from banging against his boat during tricks, and his ankles have bone spurs where they rub against the kayak’s plastic hull. A small price to pay for the never-ending thrill of whitewater, he says.

“Nothing ever happens the same,” he says. “You have to think fast all the time.”

Freestyle kayaking is like a mix of surfing and a skateboard half-pipe: Kayakers paddle onto a river wave or drop into a recirculating hole, then pull acrobatic, aerial moves like flips, cartwheels and loops, plus more exotic tricks with names like Donkey Flip, McNasty, Helix and Pan-Am that are as hard to describe as they are to perform.

Interest in freestyle kayaking is climbing because it will be part of the 2012 Olympics. It’s a young sport that’s evolving as athletes dream up ever more difficult and spectacular stunts.

It takes big rapids to do many of these tricks. Some rapids on the Zambezi could swallow a bus. Paddling a 6-foot-long plastic kayak into one of these monsters takes guts.

And it can be dangerous — a friend of LP’s recently died in an accident on West Virginia’s Upper Gauley River.

You have to keep it in perspective, LP says.

“I get hurt a lot more skiing,” he says.

LP knows his limitations, Pam Palmer says. “Last year, he played freshman football at Air Academy (high school) and honestly I was more worried about him playing football than I am for him on the Zambezi,” she says.

LP took this year off from Air Academy to attend the World Class Kayak Academy. The school is based in Montana, but it goes wherever the water is running. The students and instructors roam the country in a pair of vans, usually sleeping in tents, and set up classrooms on the banks of whichever river they’re running.

“The cool thing about the school, if you’re not getting your schoolwork done, you’re not able to paddle,” says Bechtel, who teaches calculus in addition to coaching. “It’s a way to keep the kids in check.”

After Zambia, the students head for Chile, home to the Futaleufu River, then return to the U.S. for a swing up the West Coast.

LP’s adventures won’t end when school does. The Palmers are planning a trip down the Grand Canyon, then will fly to Switzerland to watch LP compete in the World Cup.

Last week, LP returned to Colorado for a family elk-hunting trip, but a day after he arrived, he was itching to get back on the river.

“It’s weird,” he says. “I thought I’d be ready for a break because I’ve been kayaking the last five months, but I’m ready for the water.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0275 or awineke@gazette.com