Two rescued, boater’s body found,off Hillsboro Inlet

Posted on 22 June 2011 by JLusk

Late Monday night, Hillsboro Club maintenance worker Guy Gianino was relaxing with colleagues outside the workers’ dorms of the exclusive enclave when they heard muffled voices.

“Then we heard cries of, ‘Help! Help! Help!'” Gianino, 58, said. The sounds came from the Hillsboro Inlet that borders the southern edge of the oceanfront club.

What the workers heard were panicked cries from passengers of a 15-foot Cobia open fisherman boat that began taking on water around 10 p.m. and sank.

Before the night was over, one person would die, a boy would lose his father, and a friend’s life would be forever changed.

When Gianino and others gathered at the inlet sea wall, it was the crowd’s turn to scream.

“Swim, swim!” they shouted to the three survivors who had been separated by the incoming tide.

“The current was moving and, of course, the water was black and there is not much light out there,” Gianino said. The spot is on the north side of the Hillsboro Inlet and east of the span.

He said he laid his 5-foot-10 frame over the concrete sea wall and coached the child, 9-year-old Kenneth Williams Jr. of Deerfield Beach, to shore.

“I knew when I saw the life preserver I could get him,” Gianino said. “I was fully extended three to four feet from the wall to the water’s edge, and the child had to extend his arms up. I was only able to get him by the fingertips.”

After pulling up the boy, Gianino said he called 911. Meanwhile co-workers rescued David Goodrum, 46, of Pompano Beach, who was also wearing a life vest.

After reaching the dispatcher and seeing police arrive on the bridge, Gianino said he looked back out at the inlet and glimpsed Kenneth Williams Sr., 36.

“The father was 75 to 100 feet off the wall, and you could barely see his head,” Gianino said. He watched the elder Williams go under the water.

“I felt helpless. You want to do something, but it all happened so darned fast.”

Gianino said he noticed a light shining up from the sunken boat toward the surface. Then it went dark.

Young Kenneth Williams was running along the shore, screaming, “My dad, my dad!” Gianino said. “He was hysterical. And then he ran down the sea wall to be with the other person who was pulled over [the sea wall]. They were distraught. It’s a terrible thing.”

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