Taking risks on the river

Madison Hildebrand, a 28-year-old real estate agent from Malibu, leapt from Eagle Rock into the Russian River?s placid water.

He was at the same place, an out-of-the-way riverside beach on Fitch Mountain, where a young man broke his neck three weeks ago.

Told of the incident that left Honza Ripa, 18, paralyzed below the neck on June 13, Hildebrand was unfazed. ?If you?re not living on the edge, you?re taking up too much space,? he said.

Others matched his bravado on a scorching Saturday afternoon at Eagle Rock, one of many spots where river recreation has turned devastating or deadly.

Heather Minner, a 35-year-old San Francisco attorney, did a well-executed foward flip into the river. Minner, who learned to dive in high school, said she made sure the water was deep enough before going in.

Her friend, Melissa Alor, 25, also an attorney from San Francisco, jumped from Eagle Rock, not nearly as gracefully as Minner.

Ripa, a Healdsburg High golf star who graduated two weeks before his accident, had jumped from the rock successfully, a friend said. No one saw exactly how he was hurt, but for longtime Healdsburg residents it stirred memories of two similar calamities in the last 50 years or so.

In 1971, a Healdsburg teen dove off the rock and was initially paralyzed, but recovered, said Pat Curtis, who works at a Healdsburg Plaza shop and knows Ripa?s mother, Katka Ripova.

About 1955, another teen was paralyzed at the rock, a popular hangout for generations of Healdsburg youth.

?We?re river rats,? Curtis said. ?We?re drawn to the river.?

But the slow-moving river, a cool green haven from summer heat, has a menacing quality. ?It?s so dark you can?t see the shallow (water) from the deep,? Curtis said.

Those taking the leap off Eagle Rock count on plunging into a deep pool, but Curtis said they sometimes hit the bottom pretty hard.

Curtis, 59, went off the rock decades ago, feet first. ?I didn?t dive,? she said. ?I jumped. I?m not that brave.?

Healdsburg Fire Chief Randy Collins said the June 13 call to assist Ripa was the only emergency at Eagle Rock he remembers in 22 years with the department.

The rock is located off Fitch Mountain Road just east of the entrance to Villa Chanticleer. No signs point to the beach, frequented primarily by locals and folks coming downriver by canoe and other craft.

Someone was hurt jumping off a rock upstream from Camp Rose Beach last fall, but not paralyzed, Collins said.

Two people have drowned in a deep hole in the river upstream from Memorial Beach in the past six years, the chief said.

Diving into murky water, and for that matter jumping, as well, is risky under any conditions, Collins said. ?I would wade right in,? he said.

For a time on Saturday, everyone who climbed Eagle Rock paused for a moment at the top of the protrusion on the south side of the river, likely assessing the risk. They all went in.

?Oh my God,? one female jumper said. ?I?m going to kill myself.?

?I?m scared,? said another.

?Do it,? called an observer paddling by.

?Babe, jump out,? said a young man floating in an inner tube.

?Don?t dive, you?re going to crack your neck,? someone said.

Karley Deal, 18, of Orinda was celebrating her 18th birthday Saturday. Deal, whose mother was born in Healdsburg, said she has jumped off the rock countless times.

Misfortune may be rare at Eagle Rock, but it is commonplace along the river, a playground for anglers, boaters and swimmers, including some who mix alcohol with their sport.

?Any place where anyone drinks you can do stupid stuff,? said Nick Wheeler, manager at King?s Sport & Tackle in Guerneville.

Daredevils jump from Wohler Bridge above Forestville and Hacienda Bridge, where River Road crosses the river.

When the summer dam is erected below Wohler Bridge, water is deep there, Wheeler said. Hacienda Bridge is a trickier proposition, with water about 23 feet deep in one hole but only five to 10 feet deep around it, he said.

A rope swing at Dubrava Beach west of Guerneville is a hazard, especially when alcohol is involved, Monte Rio Fire Chief Steve Baxman said. ?They start showing off and that?s when someone gets hurt,? he said.

Rope swings tend to come and go along the lower river, put up and taken down anonymously.

Some accidents happen in seemingly safe places. In 1992, a 22-year-old Bay Area man sustained a spinal cord injury diving head first into two feet of water at Neely Beach.

Brianna Angell, who was with Ripa the day he was hurt, visited Eagle Rock on Saturday for the first time since the accident.

Angell, 17, and her friends were sitting on a sandy beach across from the rock. She watched Ripa, who also wrestled at Healdsburg High, do a back flip from the rock into the water, which drops from knee-high depths to 14 feet, she said.

He swam to the beach on the other side of the river and came out of the water.

?I was talking with other friends and my back was to him,? Angell said, when Ripa dove into the river again in shallow water.

?My understanding is that he dove off the beach and he hit his head in the sand,? she said. ?The next thing we know is he was floating face-down in the river.?

Friends pulled Ripa from the water and called for help. He was taken by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he is in intensive care and listed in serious condition.

Angell, who is helping raise funds for Ripa and his family, said she has heard of the 1971 incident at Eagle Rock. She hasn?t taken the jump.

?I?m afraid of heights,? Angell said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.