Most people can find and check a relevant box when answering the "current occupation" question on an application, but not Angelo Wilkie-Page, the kayaker who arrived in Nome on Sunday, October 11.
Wilkie-Page is an "other."
"I am an adventurer and explorer," said the 30-year-old from Durban, South Africa, in an interview with the Nome Nugget this week. "It's my job."
Wilkie-Page's current around-the-world "job" is made possible because he has worked hard work to secure sponsorships. "I think what makes a successful adventurer is to be able to make a lifestyle out of it, full time," he says. "It's a constant challenge."
"When I get to a milestone or a village, the first people I contact are my parents, and then the second will be my sponsors," he said. Building relationships with sponsors, such as the Los Angeles-based Clear Stream Media, allows him to make adventuring his profession.
"I believe strongly in the human-powered concept," Wilkie-Page says. "Meaning no motors or sails. Strictly under my own steam." During his attempt to circumnavigate the planet, he has traveled by bicycle, splashed down rivers using a canvass boat, hiked across rough tundra, and paddled a fiberglass kayak in the ocean.
To register the accomplishment with Guinness World Records and Explorersweb, Wilkie-Page must cross all lines of longitude as well as the equator. He also needs to pass through a set of antipodal points. These are locations that are at diametrically opposite positions on the globe. He has chosen Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and its antipode, which lies somewhere in South America's Patagonia region.
Wilkie-Page left Los Angeles by bicycle on November 20, 2014, for Leg One of his globe-trotting odyssey. He is a former bike racer but was new to pedal-powered, long-distance touring. On March 22, 2015, Wilkie-Page arrived in Fairbanks, thus completing the first leg.
On August 20, he set out on Leg Two, which will end in Cape Town, South Africa. He found neighborliness in high supply as he followed the Iditarod sled dog route down the Yukon River and along the Bering Sea coastline. "I have one main journey," he says, "but so many people have influenced it. I rely heavily on the kindness of others."
The original plan for this stretch was to paddle his Vancouver-produced, custom-made, Seaward Kayak to the Yukon Delta. But in Galena, he met Charlie Green, who he described affectionately, as "a real cowboy." Green persuaded Wilkie-Page to adjust his trip itinerary so that it would include a portage from Kaltag to Unalakleet. Green told him, "Go for it. You can do it."
Green taught him how to use a pistol. He helped arrange air transport for Wilkie-Page's kayak, and he lent him boats and a backpack. In two days, Green had Wilkie-Page set up for the overland route to Unalakleet.
When Wilkie-Page got to Kaltag, locals informed him that few modern-day travelers have attempted to make the trip across the tundra to Unalakleet in the fall time. In the past 20 years, only a Swiss pair and an Austrian pair had completed the journey.
Wilkie-Page received travel notes from a Kaltag elder. Unfortunately, those notes became wet and undecipherable en route, so he lost valuable information about landmarks.
The sparse use of the portage trail during snow-free months was evident to Wilkie-Page. There was no visible trail. Fortunately, a large number of mushers discard their dog's protective booties along this stretch during the Iditarod race. He used the booties as "Hansel and Gretel-type" navigational aides to find the Unalakleet River, which he floated down using Green's lightweight raft. He reached Unalakleet eight days, and one scary bear encounter, after leaving Kaltag.
Wilkie-Page arrived at the Bering Sea with limited ocean kayaking experience. His goal was to use the coast as a training ground for a Bering Strait crossing. He plans to paddle from the Seward Peninsula to Magadan, Siberia, next summer.
Unalakleet resident Jeff Erickson met Wilkie-Page at the shipping container where he was spending the night. Erickson brought food and encouragement and offered advice about the Bering Sea Coast. He also provided Wilkie-Page with contact information for people along the way. "I had major doubts leaving Unalakleet," Wilkie-Page said. But he felt more relaxed after meeting Erickson.
Wilkie-Page made steady progress, although he tipped over twice between Unalakleet and Shaktoolik. Each capsize demanded a strenuous, chilly swim to shore with boat in-tow. He gained confidence around the significant obstacles, which included Cape Denbigh, Cape Darby, and Rocky Point.
In Shaktoolik, Wilkie-Page found Palmer Sagoonick, who he described as "the most humble person I have ever met in my life." Sagoonick put Wilkie-Page in touch with Koyuk's Bucky Prentice, who helped him drag his heavily-laden kayak to shore through the sticky mudflats. That endeavor lasted almost two hours.
"In Golovin, they were waiting for me," he said. There, his trip was delayed for a week as he waited for the early October storms to subside. "The whole community just took me in. I was invited to dinner by a different family every night. They donated to my charity Heifer International. The kids did a little fundraiser."
Wilkie-Page arrived in Nome nearly two months after leaving Fairbanks. He wants to borrow a bike and ride to Teller. His progress on Leg Two will remain stalled there for the winter. "I want to continue around April. Or as soon as the ice breaks up, and as soon as the conditions allow me. This entire winter is centered around getting over the bureaucracy hurdles. I have to get back to South Africa to meet with the Russian Consulate."
When Wilkie-Page resumes his trip next spring, nearly one and a half years will have elapsed from his starting date. Once he gets to Cape Town, he will begin the third, and most challenging leg, which will entail crossing the Atlantic by specialized rowboat. From his South American landing spot, he will then set off on Leg Four, an overland return to Los Angeles.
If he makes it back to Los Angeles, Wilkie-Page will be only the second person ever to go around the world under his own power. He would like to complete the journey in four years, but anything less than five will do. Wilkie-Page's hoped-for travel duration would break the Guinness World Record for self-powered, global circumnavigation, which was set by Turkish-American Erden Eruc in 2014.
There are many sub-plots to Wilkie-Page's efforts, and his perpetual preparation has had a building block effect. He used excursions to the Himalayas and participation in Ironman competitions to get ready for Leg One, and the trip across North America has become training for Siberia.
It's hard to imagine topping a circumnavigation of the planet. Still, Wilke-Page sees his entire 360-degree expedition around the earth as a training trip in itself. Once he breaks Eruc's record, he will set off to become the first person to complete both a circumnavigation around the globe from east to west and from Pole to Pole. He has named his two-pronged undertaking Expedition 720 Degrees.
Along with setting records, Wilkie-Page's goal is to raise global awareness on critical environmental and socio-economic issues related to food security. Donations given to Wilkie-Page are used to help eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Learn more about Wilkie-Page's achievements and progress at expedition720degrees.com.
