A MOTHER drowned after attending a popular sailing festival.

An inquest heard that Rebecca Allan, 40 from Lymington, died after attending the Old Gaffers Festival in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight earlier this year.

The mother-of-two from Vitre Gardens had gone to the festival with her partner Scott Taylor and friend of 23 years, Suzannah Eastwood, on Saturday May 30.

Two days later her body was discovered floating in the sea off of Calshot Spit.

Ms Eastwood, a residential care worker, said the trio had caught the 4pm boat from Lymington to Yarmouth.

Up to this point they had not drunk any alcohol but at the ferry terminal they bought eight cans of Pimms and when they arrived they went to the bar Salty's in Yarmouth and the Kings Head pub next to it where Ms Eastwood and Ms Allan were drinking half pints of lager.

They then went to the Wheatsheaf pub and chatted with a group of six men who knew Mr Taylor or had met Ms Eastwood.

According to James Negaard, one of the men in the group, Mr Taylor had seemed annoyed that Ms Allan had been talking to other men.

Mr Taylor, who moved in with Ms Allan in August 2014, lost sight of her after buying her a drink and assumed she and Ms Eastwood had gone to catch a ferry.

He caught the last ferry to Lymington at 10.50pm and did not hear anything from either his partner or Ms Eastwood that night.

Ms Eastwood was chatting with Mr Negaard and realised Mr Taylor had gone and that they had missed the last ferry.

She went to the toilet and when she returned she could not find Ms Allan.

Thinking she had gone to get food with the group of men who had left, Ms Eastwood called and sent messages to Ms Allan and searched for her just after 11.50pm.

She also sent Facebook messages to Mr Taylor asking where Ms Allan was, before she got a ride back to Lymington on a friend's RIB.

The next day she and Mr Taylor met and when Ms Allan had not appeared by the afternoon they reported her missing.

On Saturday night, five of the men in the group had returned to their boat and Christopher Conrath, part of the group, said they realised Ms Allan had followed them told her she was not coming on-board their boat.

She then walked off and was last spotted on CCTV near the Wightlink car ferry port in Yarmouth.

The camera saw her walking in the direction of a set of steps used by water taxi service and in the video she did not look like she was staggering.

Her body was discovered in the water the following Monday with 32 milligrams of alcohol in her blood, much lower than the legal drink drive limit of 80 milligrams.

Police said that she had most likely fallen in or possibly got onto a boat and then fallen in.

There was also no evidence that Ms Allan, who still had her purse and money with her when she was found, had been the victim of a crime and suicide had been ruled out.

Just days before, Ms Allan and her partner had discussed going to Croatia on holiday.

A post mortem examination found that her injuries were consistent with someone falling into the water and drowning and the coroner at Newport Coroners Court recorded her death as misadventure.

Mourners took to social media after the death of Ms Allan, known as Bex, posting hundreds of condolences on her Facebook page.