Gerry Spiess
Gerald F. (Gerry) Spiess (born 1940) is a school teacher best known for having sailed his 10-foot (3.0 m) home-built sailboat Yankee Girl solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1979 and across the Pacific in 1981.Spiess designed and built the boat in his garage in suburban White Bear Lake, Minnesota, from plywood. After a test launch in the local lake, Spiess transported the boat to the East Coast for launch. He sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on June 1, 1979, arriving in Falmouth, England, after a 54-day Atlantic crossing.