Shenandoah embarks on final voyage 

Chilmark School fourth- and fifth-graders ran down the Owen Park docks with luggage in hand and excitement in their eyes as families trailed not far behind, Monday morning around 9:30. 

The students piled into Capt. Ian Ridgeway’s dinghy for a short ride to the Shenandoah, beginning what Martha’s Vineyard Ocean Academy (MVOA), which took over ownership of the vessel from the late Capt. Bob Douglas in 2020, said is the topsail schooner’s last student voyage after 63 summers sailing and welcoming more than 15,000 Island students aboard for hands-on maritime experience. MVOA is currently fundraising to get started on building a Shenandoah II.

Ridgeway asked everyone on the docks to start passing luggage down to him, and he began loading them onto his dinghy, which is a small white workboat with a short boxy cabin and open cockpit surrounded by benches where children sat bunched together. Bags were piled up in the middle of the large, open floor.

“Is the new Shenandoah going to be fun?” a fourth-grade student asked Ridgeway as he steered the dingy over to the Shenandoah, floating at a mooring in front of the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard.

“Yes! It’s going to be made of steel!” Ridgeway said. 

Once aboard, some fifth-graders familiar with the ship from last year’s trip pointed out fun locations to climb and explore, and eager to learn, fourth-graders followed, climbing and sitting on the main gaff and hanging off the cargo netting that leads to the top of the sails. Crew members asked them to get down, at least during the boarding process, because they needed all hands on deck.

MVOA will end the Shenandoah’s final season with a three-day community farewell. Ridgeway and co-executive director Casey Blum have said continued repairs on the vessel are no longer financially practical.

“Shenandoah has been the stage for peak life moments and transformational experiences for thousands of Vineyarders across generations. The experience of setting out on a voyage aboard her is indescribable, and has a lasting effect on participants. We’re excited to amplify that for future children with Shenandoah II,” Ridgeway said.

The Shenandoah II is a steel-hulled successor designed by Douglas himself. The current captain, Ridgeway, who is executive director of the MVOA, has previously said that they plan to preserve the original hull from the Shenandoah as a waterfront exhibit to ensure her legacy as a piece of history that lives on for future generations. 

On Friday, Shenandoah is scheduled to sail home, after a week of students out on the water, from Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island around noon. Boats of every kind are invited to join the parade of sail. 

She will come alongside Black Dog Wharf on Saturday, when the students will disembark, for a dockside potluck from 5 to 7 pm, and her cannons will be fired at sunset. The gathering is planned in concert with Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway’s annual Pat West gaff-rig and schooner race.

On Sunday, the decks will be open to the public from 11 am to 5 pm. Ridgeway said the nonprofit is about $900,000 short of finishing construction funding for the steel-hulled Shenandoah II, which is expected to cost about $9.85 million total and take roughly two years. Builders have not been chosen; a round of bids is still ahead.

“I am [excited]. It’s been challenging to raise the money for it. It’ll be a great project and a great program if it’s well-capitalized,” Ridgeway said in an interview with The Times.

As he rode his dinghy over to pick up students at Owen Park, he said he wished the historic wooden schooner could still keep sailing. 

“I love the Shenandoah. It was the stage of some of the most important moments of growth in my life. It’s a wonderful boat, and I wish it made sense to keep sailing it,” Ridgeway said. 

The original plan after MVOA took over in 2020, he said, was to sail her two to four more years.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said.