A MUM from the New Forest drowned after attending a popular sailing festival on the Isle of Wight.

An inquest heard that Rebecca Allan, 40, died after attending the Old Gaffers Festival in Yarmouth earlier this year.

The mother-of-two, known as Bex, 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.

The trio had caught the 4pm boat from Lymington to Yarmouth. They had been drinking throughout the afternoon and met up with a group of six men they knew, Newport Coroner's Court was told.

The court heard Mr Taylor, who moved in with Ms Allan in August 2014, lost sight of her 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 also lost Ms Allan and after searching for her and calling her she got a ride back to Lymington on a friend's boat.

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

She then walked off and was last spotted on CCTV near the Wightlink car ferry port, walking towards steps used by water taxi service.

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.

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

Just days before Ms Allan, who lived in Lymington, had discussed going to Croatia on holiday with her partner.

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