Members of an adventurous group are making a splash worldwide with their passion for swimming with their clothes on.

Stefan Stukenberg brings new meaning to the term "wet suit" when he regularly takes the plunge without bothering to strip off.

He set up the Brighton Wet Group and a web site, www.wackywet.com, to encourage others to share his enthusiasm for "anything dripping wet".

The site now has 90,000 visits a month and there are similar groups across Europe and the United States.

German-born Stefan, 46, of Lindfield Close, Saltdean, started the group in 1991, originally concentrating on life-saving skills.

However, the focus shifted to simply getting soaking wet while fully-clothed, either by hiring lanes in hotel pools or braving the waves on Brighton seafront.

He and his friends enjoy swimming in jeans, hooded sweatshirts, anoraks and ponchos.

Every garment must be clean to avoid clogging pool filters.

Stefan started posting photographs on the internet as a parody of explicit porn sites.

The website features mock warnings such as: "Our site is 100 per cent clean. You will not find any pornography here. No nudes, no sex. All models are under 80 years of age and fully-clothed."

Stefan said: "I just posted up a few photos of our group to begin with and other people started sending theirs to me. The site is almost entirely contributed by readers."

Wet groups have been set up in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Wisconsin, and also in Belgium.

In Stefan's native Germany the activity has been all the rage for a long time.

He said: "People throw pool parties featuring live music and drinks, where people can swim in whatever they want.

"It makes life more fun. It's a popular trend in Germany which I hope will catch on here.

"I don't get self-conscious about it. When I'm running back up the beach soaking wet people do greet me and ask me what I'm doing.

"A teenager at a pool the other day told me I had forgotten to take my clothes off. I explained and he immediately wanted to try for himself."

He is careful to get permission to swim while clothed at certain pools and avoids cut-off jeans and shoes which can be damaging.

He said: "I go for comfort - usually jeans or cotton clothes or sportswear."