TEXEL
Peggy and I set off for Skydive Texel early in the morning.
We had to rush through the ferry port in Den Helder, on the North coast of the Netherlands to meet up with Peggy’s clan of skydiving buddies! They’ve all known each other and been skydiving together for 20 years, so I felt incredibly gratified to be immediately accepted into the group! As an ‘outsider’ It’s not always easy to embed yourself with a bunch of close friends, but I felt like I’d known them for years almost straight away.
We arrived at the drop zone, I met the team, registered to jump and got my kit ready.
It was an event called the ‘Beer and Tits’ boogie… and I suppose… there was beer… and some women… and possibly some men… with tits… so the title was pretty accurate… but anyway, I met Jessica, who was running her own ‘Kickstarter’ course for beginners and we made a plan to exit the plane together, with some fun camera-flying-fandango, which was awesome!
Again, I was a pretty nervous… it’s always nerve-wracking jumping at a new drop zone. There’s so much to think about and to make sure you know before getting in the plane, although it’s becoming a lot more second nature now. I was a bit tense on the first couple of jumps… but landed in one piece and in the right place, thats the main thing. Thank you for the jumps and camera flying Jessica!
Next up was a jump with Peggy’s crew and their coach Troy.
Troy was on camera flying duty. It was a pretty spontaneous decision to do a 6-way hybrid. We didn’t have much time to plan and it was the first jump of the day! With less than five minutes to run through the plan on the floor, Troy had to run back to the hangar to swap his GoPro with mine, my goggles fell apart while in the plane and to top it off, I held onto a bar above my head where the door was about to slide across and crush my hand!
A stressful start… but we did the jump and it was awesome!
I’ve learnt so much in the last few days and it really helps jumping with people that are far more advanced than me. I’ve had the same experience while snowboarding with people better than me and it’s the the perfect way to progress! My only ‘issue’ is that there’s SO MUCH to think about when skydiving, you really have to be on point all the time… but my stress levels were heightened by trying to film everything as well. It’s a lot to think about and my mind was on the edge of being able to cope. I can’t just relax and chat to people about skydiving without thinking “I should be filming this!” Some of the stories I’ve heard and situations people have dealt with while skydiving are fascinating… and I’ve not been able to capture as much as I’d like to.
So what have I learned this time?
JUMPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE IS MUCH MORE FUN THAN JUMPING ON MY OWN.
Positive Energy
Taking control of a negative situation and turning it into an opportunity can create a lot of positive energy. I feel so alive and full of positive energy, and in turn that means I receive positive energy… which is good for everyone! I really feel as though I’m doing something worthwhile, which is very important to me.