It was an incident that stayed with her into adulthood.

It is one of many reasons the now mother of two enrolled her daughters, Sophia, 10, and Audrey, 7, into swimming lessons and the Canberra/Broulee Nippers.

"Our kids are both really strong swimmers, but we've only done the pool lessons and we wanted them to be more comfortable with the coast and swimming in the ocean," Mrs Hawkins said.

"You can see the difference when you put them in a pool, they're very comfortable, but when we're down the coast, they're much more cautious, and I'd like for them to be more confident."

Mrs Hawkins is not alone; 130 ACT children are enrolled in the Canberra/Broulee Nippers program, which Bethany Williams started last year.

Only 15 per cent of ACT students meet the national benchmark set by the Australian Water Safety Council, according to Royal Lifesaving ACT.

On Sunday Ms Williams launched the club's second season at the Canberra Olympic Pool, the new training ground.

"So many of us Canberrans go to the coast for our holidays, but our kids don't have the benefit of learning how to swim in an ocean environment, and are at a big disadvantage from a safety perspective," she said.

"Last summer, 84 per cent of all rescues on the south coast were from the ACT."

An estimated 235,500 Canberrans will flock to the south coast during the holiday period. More than half of the tourists will head to the beach during their visit.

"These figures provide a strong impetus to introduce surf lifesaving and pool rescue training to kids in the ACT, and will also contribute to the Australian government's aim to reduce drowning deaths nationally by 50 per cent by 2020," Ms Williams said.

The children will train at the pool and will travel to the coast each month.