For my birthday my wife gave me a coupon for a tandem parachute jump at http://paracentrumtexel.nl . On a nice Tuesday me and my wife went to Texel. Although I live close, it took about over 1 hour to get there. Texel is an island in front of Den Helder, so you will have to travel by boat.
After some formalities it was time to put on a suite.
![Prepare for Tandem parachute jump](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG-20191015-WA0004-768x1024.jpg)
After meeting with the instructor, he made sure that everything was tighten correctly. He didn’t speak very well dutch, but that didn’t bother me.
![](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG-20191015-WA0007-768x1024.jpg)
And then there is the moment that you walk to the airplane. This would bring the group up to 9000 feet. It was a bit bumpy but that was okay. The instructor asked if I was nervous and I showed him my watch with heartbeat. It was 59 bpm !
![](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG-20191015-WA0002-1024x768.jpg)
It looked a cloudy day, but at 9000 feet, the sun was shining ! Very nice weather. There was a storm at the horizon with a very dark sky. I saw some round rainbows and above all, it wasn’t cold !
In short : The view was AWESOME!
After 30 seconds we were at about 5000 feet and it was time to open the parachute. I really liked the feeling and the views. Of course the instructor wanted to show off by circling down some times, but even that I enjoy it !
![](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG-20191015-WA0017-768x1024.jpg)
And yes, I did it. Now it’s time to see if I can get my Accelerated Free Fall license somewhere. I loved the feeling of the free fall.
![My first parachute tandem jump.](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IMG-20191015-WA0020-768x1024.jpg)
Zen
For me the whole experience was pretty “Zen” ! I enjoyed being part of the nature, no fear, no stress. Nothing in the sky, just me hanging on a parachute.
Below you see some graphs. My jump was around 10:40. Look at the stress level. Totally inner peace !
![Heartbeat Joost](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HR1036_Before-Jump.png)
![Stress Lever Joost](http://iamjoost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/StresslevelT.png)