Fortis X Arctic Row
Four rowers, 33 days and around 2,800 kilometres across the Arctic. Fortis joined Arctic Row 2026 as the crew travelled from Svalbard to the Faroe Islands entirely under human power.
In June 2026, Florian Ramp, Roman Möckli, Frederik Jacobs and Ben von Mitzlaff set out to attempt one of the most ambitious rowing expeditions ever undertaken in the Arctic.
The original plan was to leave Svalbard, row north towards the edge of the polar ice and then continue south via Jan Mayen, Iceland and the Faroe Islands before eventually reaching Scotland. Around 3,100 kilometres, up to 60 days at sea and an estimated three million rowing strokes stood between the crew and their destination.
Fortis was on board as a partner of Arctic Row 2026.
The four-man team brought considerable experience to the expedition. Florian Ramp had already completed an Atlantic crossing with Team Atventure, while Frederik Jacobs had crossed the Atlantic with SWISS RAW, winning the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
From Svalbard, the crew headed north and reached 80° 4.1338′ N, the northernmost point of the expedition, before turning south.
What followed was more than a month at sea. Cold, salt water, constant movement, storms and long periods without seeing the sun became part of everyday life aboard Happy Days. At times, conditions forced the crew to deploy the para-anchor and wait until the sea allowed them to continue.
On 5 August, after 33 days and around 2,800 kilometres under oar, Happy Days entered the harbour of Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands.
The route had changed from the original plan, as routes in the Arctic tend to do, but the scale of the expedition had not. Four people had spent more than a month rowing continuously through one of the most remote maritime regions in the world.
For Fortis, Arctic Row offered exactly the kind of environment that matters: prolonged use in cold, wet and unpredictable conditions, far removed from controlled surroundings.
The expedition is complete.
Four rowers, one boat and 2,800 kilometres of Arctic behind them.
Along the way, the team achieved two historic firsts: the first human-powered crossing of the Arctic Ocean and the northernmost point ever reached by a rowing boat on open ocean.
Expedition Facts
Expedition: Arctic Row 2026
Crew: Florian Ramp, Roman Möckli, Ben von Mitzlaff, Frederik Jacobs
Departure: Svalbard
Northernmost point: 80° 4.1338′ N
Arrival: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Arrival date: 5 August 2026
Time at sea: 33 days
Distance rowed: approx. 2,800 km
Fortis: Expedition partner
