How did it start?

Rolf-Ørjan Høgset was one of the founders of In The Same Boat, and has stayed as the leading force of the organisations since 2017. He has a long career in business development, technology, and communication. The last years before becoming a full-time beach cleaner, he was a recognized photographer and filmmaker and an innovator in the Norwegian blogging and influencer industry.

Until 2017 his career and life had been all about marketing and sales – making people buy stuff they don’t really need, a lot of it eventually ending up as trash, some of it even in the oceans.

While producing a live streaming TV show from a sailboat, Rolf was invited to a beach cleanup with some enthusiasts cleaning plastic debris on a severely polluted beach at Lofoten.

At first he could not believe the trash was not dumped there, but when he realized that the sea actually brought it in there, he got a vision and a strong urge to fix the problem.

Rolf joined the group, that was already running a cleanup project, and developed it from a project to a long term ambitious plan, and a structured organisation. It’s important to credit also this group, that had the initial idea, and openly included Rolf in the project.

Moving his whole life onto the 15 meter sailboat, Fonn, Rolf has spent the last eight years building one of the most effective beach cleaning organizations in the world.

Among the objects he found on that beach were bottles with ketchup and mustard from the Norwegian brand “Idun.” He recently worked with this brand, producing commercial campaigns for the grocery industry.

The idea was born, and the rest is history. Rolf sold his cameras and bought the first of In The Same Boats sailboats. From there, he built the organization with engaged volunteers and eventually a team of professional skippers and team leaders.