'I got up at 4.29am, like I'm doing something illicit, and now there is no going back'

Wales Online

22-06-2025

'I got up at 4.29am, like I'm doing something illicit, and now there is no going back'
My legs tingle with the chill of the sea at daybreak. Then I plunge in as my body buzzes with the endorphins of a cold water dip
Abbie Wightwick swimming at Penarth beach with Dawnstalkers as the run rises
(Image: James Richardson )
It's so early even the cat hasn't woken and the room is dark when my alarm goes off at 4am. The street is silent as I slip outside in the pre-dawn glow. Walking quickly down the hill it feels as if I'm doing something illicit while everyone else is sleeping.
I am stealing time while the world is snoozing to swim in the sea at daybreak. I've always been a swimmer and love the beach, but am no fan of very early mornings or cold water.
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As it turns out, perhaps I am. I'm pumped on adrenaline like I'm off to catch an early morning holiday flight, but when I get there the shore is calm and still.
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Down on the pebbles a handful of people are exchanging cheerful good mornings. This is the moment when I'll have to introduce myself as a newbie and get into the chilly waves when I could be snuggled down under my duvet.
There's no going back. What happens next is a warm embrace from the lovely people known as Dawnstalkers.
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This is the group who swim off Penarth beach every morning as the sunrises, come rain or shine. They've been meeting for nearly five years since the pandemic.
Within minutes I'm welcomed and chatting with an eclectic, smiling bunch of people as we wade into the sea. They point to the red orb magically appearing on the skyline as my legs tingle with the chill of the water.
And then I've plunged in, my body acclimatising to the temperature and thrill of a dawn dip. This is great.
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Dawnstalkers welcome the sun on Penarth Beach
(Image: James Richardson )
Bobbing in the water is Grant Zehetmayr. It was his lone daily dawn swims when Covid lockdowns eased that inspired what is now Dawnstalkers.
It wasn't intentional and is an achievement that happened organically when passers-by saw and joined him. Now hundreds of people are part of the movement with a core group of around 10 meeting every morning.
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People swimming through the year with Dawnstalkers range in age from children to those in their eighties. They include retired people, students and people heading off to work afterwards.
There's even a splinter group, Moon Mermaids, that swims at night when there's a new moon.
"It was 2020 and I found lockdown difficult," recalls Grant, "I was missing something and searching for something. There was no structure in the week any more. I started getting in the sea and then I added it to dry January in 2021. I didn't set out to create a swimming group or club. I just got into the sea and people were interested and joined me."
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Splashing in the waves at dawn
(Image: James Richardson )
Grant was drinking too much at the time and felt disconnected. Few people, if any, swam off Penarth beach pre-Covid, let alone at dawn through the winter.
His early morning sessions were unusual and soon noticed. As the number joining him grew Grant began posting about it on social media.
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Now his social life has swapped ends of the day - he meets friends early and with the sea as an ice breaker rather than alcohol.
The name Dawnstalkers came from a joke made by Grant's wife Beth who is at home asleep with their daughter Lola.
'A dopamine hit'
After swimming Grant will go back and then on to work in his graphic and design business Signs Express at Cardiff Bay.
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Like most of the dawn swimmers he goes to bed very early in mid-summer as the sun rises just before 5am.
"If you socialise at dawn you don't feel the need to drink alcohol. Dawn swimming was a substitute addiction, but I didn't realise that and it wasn't meant to be subversive," says Grant.
"Most people wouldn't get in the sea year round. I like pushing boundaries and became interested in the health benefits of cold water swimming later. I did not set out to create a group but it is a real privilege. Cold water swimming is addictive and you do get a dopamine hit from it."
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Grant Zehetmayr's daily dawn swim during the first lockdown in 2020 encouraged others to join him and the community that is now the Dawnstalkers grew
(Image: James Richardson )
Cold water swimming has gained popularity in recent years with lots of discussion about the health and wellbeing benefits, but for Dawnstalkers it is as much about the friendships that have grown up around their daily gathering. With no official membership anyone can come down, join them and swim. Some swimmers like to chat and go in as a group while others prefer a nod and hello and to be in the water solo. There are no rules and no expectations.
As I float on my back in the waves watching the sky turn from grey to orange-blue I swear I can feel endorphins flood through. It feels great, but I have to keep moving. It may be June but it's not long past 5am and this is Wales, not the Caribbean.
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Back on land people tell me how this has literally changed their lives. All say it's more than swimming, that Dawnstalkers is a community of friends and support, that they have found the links they were seeking and their mental health has improved.
Sarah-Jane Hocking moved from Lancashire to Penarth to swim with the group after seeing photos of Dawnstalkers on social media. In September she's marrying James Richardson who takes the pictures every morning and posts them to his Instagram.
'I got hooked'
Working from home for a textile company meant Sarah-Jane could relocate to Wales: "Dawnstalkers has given me my purpose. I have found me," she says, "I have found friends and my partner. It's the best decision I ever made and all because someone up north sent me a Facebook post from Dawnstalkers."
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Sarah-Jane Hocking moved from Lancashire to Penarth to swim with the Dawnstalkers four years ago.
(Image: James Richardson )
For James, who comes from Penarth and has known this stretch of coast all this life, the joy is its ever changing nature. The 39-year-old professional photographer loves the sunrise, the sea and the swimmers and has a book of his images coming out later this year.
"I came down for a coffee and remembered hearing so much joy coming from the people swimming," he says, "The community is incredible. I really enjoy taking photographs here because the light at dawn is always different and always surprises me. I thought it would be a flash in the pan but it wasn't."
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Facing east Penarth beach catches the sunrise and of course the sun moves from one side to the other as the year changes. The extreme tides also mean the swimmers meet on one or other side of the pier, so every swim is unique to record.
George Menzies, a retired marine engineer from Sully, and his wife Alison, a retired civil servant, have been swimming five days a week with the Dawnstalkers for more than two years. They joined, never meaning to stay but got hooked.
"We came thinking it would be a one-off," admits Alison, "something to tick off a list of things to do, but we came back. It's the community that is so lovely.
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"It makes me feel healthier and there is something very therapeutic about cold water swimming and the community around it. It's a very special and unique group."
"It's a really nice group of people," agrees George, "It's the swimming and the social side for me. It's a great way to start the day and it's not always howling a gale, but when the sea is rough it's a different experience. We come five days a week rain or shine. It's really beautiful."
It's one thing doing this in June, but wading into a grey sea while the rain beats down or picking through frozen seaweed on the shore in midwinter doesn't sound as much fun. The swimmers explain you get used to it and part of the joy is that every day is different. Sometimes hats and gloves are needed, sometimes not.
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The colours of dawn over the sea at Penarth are always different depending on the weather and time of year
(Image: James Richardson )
John Winser joined Dawnstalkers on New Year's Day 2023 and says the sea here never gets much below 6C. Early starts with his job as restaurant retail supervisor at the University Hospital of Wales means he can't come in the week but he swims at dawn most weekends.
"When it's cold you do think "what am I doing?," the 54 year-old admits, "but soon you get a buzz and serotonin. It's addictive and I miss it if I don't go. There's never any pressure and no one judges you in the group. You can be yourself.
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'Feel a connection'
"I started because I had been through a bit of trauma and saw Dawnstalkers as social. I came down because I needed something. It's been brilliant mentally and physically and the community is brilliant. It's also a spiritual experience when you lie in the sea and look up at the sky and the sun rising.
"It's also different at different times of the year, When there are big storms and waves the energy is phenomenal, but we always swim safely."
Coffee at daybreak. Piotr Skoczylas (centre) at his mobile coffee shop Stol Coffee with John Winser (left) and James Richardson (right)
(Image: Abbie Wightwick/WalesOnline )
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Of course you can't have early mornings without coffee. Piotr Skoczylas had just lost his job in a coffee shop because of the pandemic when he spotted Dawnstalkers in 2021. He comes each morning with his mobile coffee shop Stol Coffee and its menu including cookies and free hugs. Piotr is an essential part of the group and his bright yellow coffee cart is a well known early morning fixture on the seafront now.
Like the swimmers Piotr, who is also a life coach, loves the daybreak and feels a connection to the sea, the people and the moment.
As the year turns and the midsummer solstice arrives hundreds of people are expected to gather with the Dawnstalkers to welcome in the longest day of the year at Penarth beach on June 21. It is perhaps the highest profile swim of the year for the group and draws in swimmers not just from Penarth and beyond but from outside Wales too.
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The dawn solstice swim will be followed by a silent disco on the beach and no doubt people will be bringing picnic breakfast and buying coffee from Piotr. It will be a community event for all ages as the sun starts its journey back around the globe again and new connections are forged.
When he began swimming off Penarth beach Grant did it alone. Now no one has to swim alone there.