Welcome to the official Manning Up In Alaska Web site.

Enjoy the video trailer by clicking the play button below. Be sure to TURN ON YOUR SPEAKERS.

Dick's fast-paced Manning Up In Alaska is a riveting, good read and an entertaining adventure book. At times we laugh; at other times we hold our breath. Regardless of whether we're sailors or landlubbers, he holds our wide-eyed attention with this action-packed tale as we sail with him and his wife up the coast from Mexico to Alaska aboard the 47-foot sailboat, Last Resort.

The amazing truth is that lifelong sailor and hard-driving entrepreneur Dick Drechsler didn't expect to live, much less cruise 2600 miles of ocean. After neck and throat cancer treatment confined him to taking nourishment from a feeding tube, he lost his energy, humor and will to survive. He was forced to retire; he was unable to travel. Worst of all, he was no longer able to enjoy his passion for sailing. 

This book is about how, despite these very long odds, he refused to give up. His story of regaining partial use of his throat, pursuing a lifelong dream to cruise in a sailboat and discovering a new, exciting avocation is a page-turner in every regard. And, in the end, Dick came to dedicate his life and this book to helping other cancer survivors enjoy life and even thrive.