A 42-year-old woman drowned after falling into Dublin's Malahide Marina as she attempted to board a yacht during stormy weather, an inquest heard tonight.
A massive search operation found Patricia Gannon, from Pinebrook Vale, Mulhuddart in Dublin 15, around 45-minutes after she fell into the water in the early hours of April 20, 2003.
Her sister, Collette Shannon, told the Dublin City Coroner's Court that they were having a family gathering on her brother-in-law Thomas Smyth's boat, “Jules III”.
Sgt David McCormack said that the Jules III had been loosely tied, which would be the norm for a steady firm quay. However, Malahide Marina was a floating dock which would move during stormy weather.
“On a particularly stormy night the pontoons have the ability to bend and trust,” he said.
The sergeant said he believed the boat may have moved two-and-a-half to three-feet away from the pontoon or walkway.
“The boat moved in a swell. She stepped out on to it and the boat would no longer have been there. And she went down between the boat,” he said.
“If you put fenders out and tie the boat securely, then the boat when it is docked will rise and fall together.”
A statement from Philip Smyth, a brother of the deceased, said they were heading back onto the boat around 12.50am after spending the evening in a public house in Malahide.
“Patricia went to the back of the boat where we would get on. I saw Patricia slip in,” he said.
The inquest heard he dived into the water to try rescue her.
“I feel that at one stage I had her in my arms but I couldn't hold onto her,” he said.
Sgt McCormack said the tide was high and the current underneath the boat would have been strong.
“On the night in question it was quite stormy,” he said.
A massive search operation was launched including the Air and Rescue helicopter and the Howth Lifeboat, which found her some distance from where she had entered the water, around 45-minutes after the incident.
Ms Gannon, who was married but separated, was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
A pathologist's report, which showed Ms Gannon died from drowning, found she had received a bump on the head.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said this could have happened in the fall between the boat and the pontoon and may have rendered her unconscious before she hit the water.
PA