UPDATE:  After 41 days at sea, Arctic Row rowed 1000 miles across the Arctic Ocean, the longest nonstop row in this ocean in history. The boat is currently being shipped to San Francisco where it will be on display. The movie will be assembled from the many hours of 1080p video footage, photographs and audio recordings that the team made while underway in the ocean and while anchored awaiting Arctic storms.

Thank you for donating to Arctic Row. If you already donate you will soon get your perks--we're busily preparing them now. You should have already gotten your postcard if you donated prior to mid-July.    

Why row the Arctic Ocean:

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Because we want to show first-hand the impact that global warming has had on the Arctic Ocean (foreshadow: it's melting fast). Our film will chronicle this record setting expedition and showcase the effects of Arctic global warming. Each member of our team is doing the row for slightly different reasons, but we all agree that the exploratory nature of Arctic Row and the science associated with the expedition make it highly compelling and worthwhile.

Arctic Row's Science: 

For science, Arctic Row has partnered with Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation and Professor Russell Hopcroft of the University of Alaska Fairbanks to conduct research on the role of whale olfaction in feeding habits in the Arctic Ocean and collect plankton samples to increase understanding of this key food source for marine mammals.

For mankind, our team of four will set a Guinness Book Record and complete one of the world's last great firsts: A non-stop, unsupported crossing of the Arctic Ocean by rowboat in July 2012. We will explore the unknown and advance the mettle of man. Arctic Row is a 30-day expedition in July 2012 to row 1,100 miles across the Arctic Ocean.

Documentary Themes:

1. Challenging the Impossible: Rowing The Last Unrowed Ocean

2. Inspire a Global Audience: Health, Fitness, & Empowered Living

3. Collaborate with Experts: Studying Endangered Baleen Whales

Meet The Rowers:

from left to right: Collin, Scott, Paul, and Neal

Rower Collin West: breathes inspiration, eats adversity and smiles in the face of what others call danger.  (He simply calls it opportunity.) As a national champion adventure racer and Crossfit World Games competitor he fills his leisure time with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (same as Paul) and was recently awarded the prestigious Kauffman Fellowship. Later this year, Collin is marrying his soul-mate & sweetheart. His bride-to-be is a fellow brainiac and inspirational tour de force…also a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader & Miss Texas winner.  Enough said.

Rower Scott Mortensen: is an adventure filmmaker, marketing whiz and social entrepreneur who spearheads profitable ventures for stakeholders, people and the planet — the elusive, triple-bottom-line.  He's worked at orphanages in Russia, shot documentaries in Thailand, built community centers in Fiji, practiced social enterprise in Honduras and joined disaster relief teams in Haiti. Scott thinks that anyone can climb Mount Everest, bike across the US or row across an ocean. He's personally completed two of those three feats.  "The real challenge is to inspire everyone around you while you do it.  Getting people to 'think different' isn't just a tagline, it's my life mission." Scott has only two items left unchecked on his bucket list. One of them is to produce a film/book project that sparks lasting global change. The time is now. And this is the project.

Rower Paul Ridley: Our calm, capable, team leader and long-distance rowing mad-man. In honor of his mother, Katherine Raub Ridley, 25 year-old Paul rowed for hope across the entire Atlantic ocean in 87 days. He was the youngest American to ever pull off such a feat. "I'm exhausted. Overwhelmed with all the excitement from my arrival," Ridley told CNN. "Physically feeling good but will be feeling a lot better when the soreness starts to heal and once that happens I will be back to fundraising because cancer research is still in need of funding, so we still have a lot of work to do." Surprisingly, Paul's motto is not, never give up.  It's give it all up.  Leave nothing behind.  Spare no reserve of body, mind or spirit in making this world a better place, right here, right now.

Rower Neal Mueller: is the closest thing to a real life Bruce Wayne aka Batman that we could find.  We'd love to tell you more but we can't.  Really, we can't.  Okay fine: Neal lives on one of the most famous streets in the world (Lombard Street in San Francisco).  Almost as famous as he is.  He works a full-time product management job yet was the 120th person in the world to climb all of the 7 Summits, including Mount Everest unguided.  He's also swam the English Channel, rowed from San Francisco to Sacramento and San Francisco to Petaluma.  He has over 3,000 mentions in the press but not one of them tells you who he really is, how he pulls everything off, or most importantly, where he parks the batmobile. He lives with his dog Tenzing.

Arctic Row Boat:


Arctic Row Route:

Our route benefits from expertise from Weather Routing Incorporated.

What We Need:
Donate and your tax-deductible gift will us complete our historic and scientific mission. 100% of your money will go to direct expenses of the expedition and documentary. We are raising money two ways: corporate sponsors and individual donations (like yours).

$60,000 Boat & Retrofit for Ice
$30,000 Film Gear
$20,000 Boat Shipping
$20,000 Gear
$15,000 Dehydrated Food
$15,000 Travel
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$160,000 Total

What We're About:

Learn more on our website: www.arcticrow.com