Plot hole: Patrick Redfern needs someone to be in the boat with him to corroborate his and his wife's deception and be his alibi. That is whole point of his wife lying on beach - he gets this when taking Myra for a ride - but it was portrayed as a random ride she got, he did not intend or plan giving her a ride, he did not see her loitering near the boat, or even in view of him untying the boat. Even if that was intention in the story for him to be seen ready to cast off, the movie viewers did not see her viewing him, only her appearing just before he was set to cast off. Without someone with him the whole deception would not work, he would have no alibi, he could have killed Arlena unseen.
Evil Under the Sun (1982)
Directed by: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Maggie Smith, James Mason, Peter Ustinov, Colin Blakely, Jane Birkin, Nicholas Clay
Revealing mistake: The dead woman who is found at the beginning of the movie takes a rather deep breath at the end of the shot. (00:02:40)
Continuity mistake: When Poirot and the others get ferried to the island the pile of luggage at the bow is arranged differently when they arrive. (00:15:30)
Daphne Castle: The whole world knows that you are a man of enormous discretion.
Daphne Castle: Arlena and I were in the chorus of a show together, not that I could ever compete. Even in those days, she could always throw her legs up in the air higher than any of us... and wider.
Myra Gardener: Well, what the hell do we do now, Odell?
Odell Gardener: Just leave it to me. I'll think of something.
Myra Gardener: Hmmph, my hero. I swear, if you were a man I would divorce you.
Question: How could the murderers possibly have known which swimwear Arlena would be wearing and have exactly the same costume?
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Answer: They didn't. They dragged her into a small enclave and stripped off her bathing suit. The wife put it on and pretended to be Arlena sunning herself.