In 1966, whilst a Captain in the Parachute Regiment, Ridgway, together with Chay Blyth, rowed across the North Atlantic in a 20 ft open dory called English Rose III.
[3] In 1967 Ridgway and Blyth were awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service for their trip which had until then been considered impossible.
[4] In 1964 he married Marie Christine d’Albiac, daughter of Air Marshal Sir John d'Albiac.
[7] In 1983/4 Ridgway and Andy Briggs sailed the school's 57-foot ketch, English Rose VI, in a non-stop passage round the world, setting (what was then) a 203-day record.
In 2003/4 Ridgway circumnavigated the globe in English Rose VI, in a campaign under the flag of the UN Environment Programme to highlight the plight of albatrosses.