As a fifth grader going for a week sail aboard Shenandoah, Ian Ridgeway managed to stretch it to two as the ship’s first stowaway. When he was found out, Capt. Bob Douglas assigned him galley duty for the week and, unlikely as it may seem, that sealed Ridgeway’s love … no, passion … for sailing tall ships. He was hooked. After that, he just kept showing up at the dock and offered to help whenever the schooner came into port. Fortunately for him, Capt. Douglas took a liking to the boy. The next 25 years is history: graduating from galley boy to bosun, deckhand, mate and now captain of Shenandoah’s sister ship Alabama, Ridgeway has tenaciously come up through the ranks.

While doing so, he realized firsthand that, yes, it is possible to learn by reading about a subject or from lectures in a classroom setting, but most people gain their truly enduring knowledge and life’s lessons the hard way – from experience, hard work and perseverance. It wasn’t long before Ridgeway started thinking about building a new ship along the lines of his beloved Shenandoah, but one that could sail the oceans with students aboard. 

As with most projects whose time has come, things started to fall into place. Ridgeway floated the idea to Capt. Douglas, who enthusiastically rolled out plans for the schooner he had designed almost half a century earlier – a steel sister ship to Shenandoah. The idea also caught on with other Black Dog crew, namely Casey Blum, who had been hooked on sailing since her week aboard schooner Alabama at the age of nine. After earning Master’s Degrees in social work and outdoor programming, Blum returned to Martha’s Vineyard to become the first and only female to skipper Alabama. 

With their individual skills, vision and passion for sailing and the transformative effect it has on young people, an initial board of directors, and program and business plans in hand, Ridgeway and Blum co-founded FUEL, the Foundation for Underway Experiential Learning, which received IRS tax-exempt status in April, 2017.