In 1965, Robert Manry was a typical middle-aged suburbanite in Cleveland, Ohio. However, his colleagues at the Plain Dealer newspaper were shocked to learn he had just set sail on a solo voyage across the Atlantic in his 13½-foot sloop, Tinkerbelle. By the time his 78-day odyssey ended in England, Manry was the target of a wild journalistic arms race, the guest of honor to a welcoming committee of 20,000 Britons, and had become a hero to his countrymen - and to dreamers everywhere.—Steve Wystrach