She would regularly watch from the safety of the sand as they launched themselves and their boat over the waves on the way out along with crew members Jesse Willis and Emma Eggins.

Then she filled in for the Coffs Boaty Bash to balance out the boat at the first event of the season back in October and hasn't looked back.

"I didn't even think I would like it, but I love it now," the 16-year-old said.

It hasn't always gone according to plan for the teenager who had a rough start in her first race where she committed a rower's cardinal sin.

The blade became buried in the water and she was flung backwards before the oar pinned her down in the boat.

"I crabbed in one of the races so it was a bit of a shocker compared to now; I've definitely improved," she said.

Having other family members encouraging her to give rowing a go had played a significant role in the youngster making the move from the sand to the front of the boat.

"I thought I may as well help them out until they found someone and then dad said "why don't you just row" and I was like 'why not'," she said.

The teenager has grown up around surf life saving, but had rarely been in a surfboat before.

"I went to carnivals since I was little, but there's a lot more to (surfboats) than just rowing."

Since Coffs Harbour, Monaghan and the Wauchope-Bonny Hills Boatettes have headed to the world championships in Adelaide where they gained a respectable sixth-place finish.

Then they competed in Sydney and won the Collaroy Young Guns event as the best under-19 crew at the start of the year.

"It's definitely the biggest highlight especially because this is my first year and it was great to get that sort of an achievement," Monaghan said.

Last weekend, the crew were awarded the under-19 division in the North Coast Surfboat Series.

This weekend they head to the Gold Coast for the 2019 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships and they are looking forward to what Broadbeach would throw at them.

"We know there's going to be a wave on which is good because we've got good surf skills and fingers crossed we make it at least through to Sunday," Monaghan said.

"It's a bit of a thrill when you cross the line and get good results.

"All of us girls work together and put in the effort so when the results pay off it's great."

Dad Steve said while his daughter had played her part in the crew's success, she was just one cog in the wheel.

"It really is a crew of five," he said.

"It's really easy to pick out a passenger; if they don't perform or pull their weight it affects the whole crew."

Now, their focus is on qualifying for the final day of competition.

"We'll trade everything in for a medal at Aussies," Mr Monaghan said.

"It's like searching for the holy grail; there are about 30 crews in their division and they're all quite good so it's going to be a big ask."

But you have to be in it to win it.

"Nothing gets achieved sitting on the couch; the girls like competition, they like waves and there's going to be both of those up there."

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, SIGN UP HERE.​