Laurie Lawrence, the former Australian Swimming head coach, brought his granddaughter Evie to town to race Coda, the son of Hunter Olympian Justin Norris, at his Thornton academy.

Mr Lawrence said that in the past 11 years, 300 Australian children had drowned after falling into the water unsupervised, and that this was unacceptable.

"Zero is the number we want, this is a drowning prevention mission we are on," Mr Lawrence said.

The Hunter was the first stop in Mr Lawrence's tour around the country to find Australia's first "champion baby swimmer".

Lawrence said he put Evie, now 20 months, in the pool at four days old and she could now keep herself afloat alone.

"Most kids her age would go straight to the bottom of the pool," he said.

"We have to teach kids how to swim at a very young age to save lives."

Norris said he was thrilled to have Lawrence at his academy and agreed that children should definitely be exposed to the water from a young age.

As for who won the bubs' race, the judges said it was "too close to call".