THERE ARE plenty of conventional ways to switch off and distract oneself from the humdrum and stress of daily life, but an Irish group of surfers, divers, filmmakers and other watersports enthusiasts are taking things a little further, filming videos of their escapades and gaining popularity online. Glowpunk, whose philosophies seem to circulate around generating new experiences, creating fun distractions and generally having a good time, are clocking up views on YouTube thanks to their videos documenting their slightly risky methods of stress relief and fun.

The first Glowpunk video showed team members high diving off the Howth coast, followed by another event in mid-December which saw them set up a trampoline on a rainy day on Howth Pier to use as a spring board into the water.

In late December, the group undertook what they call “rurfing” (river surfing), which involved travelling down the fast-moving Corrib river in the centre of Galway on surfboards, avoiding bridge buttresses and trying not to get swept away.

Earlier this week, they uploaded a video about east coast surfing.

While the west coast of Ireland gets plenty of attention, thanks to the quality of its waves, Glowpunk filmed surfers in Killiney, the day after a large storm in south Dublin, making the surf slightly rougher than normal.

Frank Cronin, from Templeogue in Dublin, is one of the Glowpunk team. “It’s kind of organic at the moment, we don’t really know what we are, apart from the little hook that we’re trying to inspire people to live their lives through the medium of video,” he says. “We’re trying to get people out and about and stick two fingers at the recession. We don’t really have a plan except we’re trying to generate a video every week and maintain and improve the standard of the videos. We have two cameras, one of them happens to be an underwater camera, so we’re just using what’s available to us. We’re trying to spread a good vibe.”

The third Glowpunk gathering takes place on January 31st, when the group is calling on people to join them to jump off the boards at Blackrock in Salthill in Galway. To check out the videos and details of upcoming events, go to youtube.com/glowpunk, or search for Glowpunk on Facebook.