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Father thinks man died trying to retrieve boat

He says his 33-year-old son was a good swimmer, but may have underestimated the strength of currents in the Intracoastal.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published June 7, 2006

CLEARWATER - Police were still investigating on Tuesday, but Tim Roberts' relatives believe they already know what killed him.

Roberts, 33, a muscular man and an experienced swimmer, may have misjudged his own strength on Monday morning when he decided to swim out alone to his father's boat, which was stranded in the Intracoastal Waterway.

"He thought he could make it," his father, James Roberts, 57, said Tuesday. "But people don't understand what a four- or five-knot current can do."

Roberts' body was found at 11:20 a.m. on Monday floating near the boat, which was anchored south of the Memorial Causeway bridge. The medical examiner will try to determine the cause of death.

Roberts' father thinks he has pieced together what happened:

On Sunday, his son took two friends out on his 32-foot Sea Ray Weekender. After a 15-minute ride, Roberts inadvertently ran the boat aground.

From the boat, Roberts called his father, who was out of town at the time, and told him of the situation. Then he anchored the boat in place, inflated a raft and returned with his friends to shore, a few hundred yards away.

Roberts assured his father he would retrieve the boat the following morning and spent the night at the Island Estates home he shared with his father.

Apparently on Monday, when Roberts went to retrieve the boat, he took neither a raft nor a life preserver.

"He was an extremely strong swimmer," his father said. "He came from good stock."

Roberts, originally from Cleveland, moved to Florida about three years ago. He lived with his father and was opening his own auto shop.

"He loved cars," the elder Roberts said. "He was a professional painter. He could do everything from a Rolls-Royce on down."

He had a sister and a twin brother, Patrick, who is a member of the Air Force Special Forces.

"He just loved family," his father said. "He was a big-hearted giant. . . . I think the most pleasant thing to Tim was to see his little nieces."

[Last modified June 7, 2006, 02:00:17]