Still Sideways: Riding the Edge Again After Losing My Sight

Working-class American adventurer Devon Raney was born in Goleta, California, and currently lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife Rebecca and daughter Madrona. Devon fell in love with surfing and skateboarding at an early age and went on to spend most of his life riding a board of some kind. Devon has spent countless hours searching for good waves, smooth snow, and flowing skate parks.

"Before a surfing accident caused thirty-three-year-old Devon Raney to lose all but 15 percent of his vision, he had already lived an extraordinary life. Time and again he'd gone against the grain to maximize time for his passions--surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding--bringing him into the direct path of colorful characters, unexpected adventures, and even the occasional brush with death. Through it all, Devon's commitment to outdoor adventure never wavered. If anything, he learned to approach the other commitments he would make in life--as a husband and as a father--with the same passion and dedication he'd applied to board sports. So when facing a devastating mid-life challenge, Devon once again went against the grain -- sideways. Instead of retreating into a life made smaller by the things he could no longer do--drive, build houses, read to his young daughter--Devon resolved to keep his commitments to the same passions that had defined and sustained him. Using his remaining peripheral vision, he developed a style of tandem snowboarding, figured out how to read the waves, and carried himself through his daily life in such a way that few people other than his close friends and family were aware of his vision loss."--from Amazon.com.