Philip Stobo B.Ed., M.Ed.

Welcome to my HomePage. Originally, this page was set up as part of a projectto get the school I was teaching at (John Ware Junior High), on theinternet. That was in '94 (see John Ware's '95 webpage). The project went well. We were the first school inCalgary to have a school HomePage, first with internet access for all thecomputers on our network, and first with an E-mail address and HomePages for eachof our students. A lot has happened since then, and the page has evolved awayfrom computers and into a trip log for sailing adventures aboard Madgic Spell, aMacgregor 26x. BTW There are things other than sailing that I enjoy. I am alsousing this site to promote my Disk Jockey service, Rock &Roll to go, on line.

I was lucky to get into teaching micro computers long before most people, andhave thoroughly enjoyed it. I started teaching junior high students about microcomputers in '81. I was at Ian BazalgetteJunior High. We used the Sinclair computer. It had 1k of RAM, ran at 1 MHzand we used old 26 inch black and white TVs as the monitors. Programs were savedon cassette tapes, so I remember one of our first projects was to make musicvideos. The students would use timing loops in BASIC to synchronise simplegraphics, to music they would play on the cassette decks. The final product wassaved on 3/4 inch video tape.

Later we got a lab of Apple IIs, and I installed "sneaker net." Students wouldpass a disk around that had our E-mail program and each student's E-mail data onit. The disk allowed students to write e-mail to anyone in the school. Later, Iwould even forward internet messages from the disk via my DEC 10 E-mail account,that was in the Mid '80s. In '88, I decided to go back to school and finish myMasters degree in Computer Applications. At that time, I also decided to have asailing adventure in the Caribbean, on my own yacht. Unfortunately, I did nothave a yacht, much less know how to sail one. In fact, I did not even know howto swim.

A few slides from the Bahama Adventure

So that is where the 10 year odyssey began, to learn to sail (and swim),purchase a yacht, and take it to the Caribbean. I joined the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons, partly tolearn how to sail, and partly to find out what kind of people have yachts andtake sailing adventures. I had expected they would be very rich, but no, theyare just very determined. In '94 I started a deferred salary plan to take the'98/'99 school year off to sail in the Caribbean and in the spring of '96, Ipurchased Madgic Spell.

Learning to sail on the lakes

The first year I had Madgic Spell, I lake sailed. Here is a picture of MadgicSpell on Ghost lake with my Niece, Murielle, at the helm while my Sister,Annette, supervises. The second year, I took Madgic Spell out to the GulfIslands. I had been out there several times before, but never in such a smallboat and never as captain. You can follow the link to see some pictures andstories from that trip.

The next year it was the big adventure to theBahamas. That trip taught me a bit more about sailing, but it also taught methat I am more of a teacher than a pirate captain, and how important it is tofollow you heart. My only regret was that it took me a bit too long to fulfillthat dream.