Updates from Megan Abubo

BRAZO

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:32:03 GMT

Of all the places on tour, who would’ve thought Brazil would have the biggest waves of the year thus far? I arrived in Rio on a beautiful sunny morning with an extremely fat and painful hand from the stitches put in me 48 hours prior to landing in the lush and tropical country of Brazil. Layne, Amee, and Jessi were my baggage handlers because of my gimp hand.

We took a shuttle bus to our hotel, boards loaded to the top. When we turned the bend to the infamous surfing beach of Barra da Tijuca, all I could see was tow surfers and what appeared to be second reef Pipeline. I didn’t even know the waves could be this big here. I was in shock and suddenly didn’t mind being injured ’cause at least I had an excuse to not surf. Layne --the psycho she is -- was contemplating going out even after a massive journey across continents. It’d been a good nine years since we last shared a roof (I think it was Tokushima in 1999. Wow, time flies!).

We had the most magnificent view of the city on the 22^nd floor. Downstairs, our hotel was a local bakery that had great empanadas and café con leches (coffee with milk). I would caffeine out and hang at the comp watching the waves, waiting for my heat and hanging to get my stitches out. Layne helped me MacGyver my hand up with duct tape. I looked like a robot. It still got wet, though, and I couldn’t paddle or duck dive well so during the WQS event I bombed out pretty quick. The girls were ripping, though, in solid four- to six-foot shorebreak but in the end it was Bec who’d celebrate her first ’QS win in a while.

We were all ready to compete in the WCT event now. We dusted off the Brazil cobwebs and the tape was coming off my hand. We had a day off so local ripper Marina Werneck took a couple of us to the local prainha beach, which means, “little beach.” (All over Brazil, no matter where you are, they say there’s a prainha beach. It was beautiful. No hotels, no masses -- just a few surfers, and a couple of professional paddleball players.

First day of competition I was excited to get my hand unwrapped and to redeem myself. I went out guns blazing in the first round but sometimes when you get really good scores the first day, it’s hard to back it up the next day. So in Round 3, I had an absolute shocker, and was very, very disappointed. I went back to the hotel and tried to soak it all in.

Meanwhile, my roommate (tour veteran, seven-time World Champion and going for another), Layne Beachley, was on fire. Staying with Layne is so different from staying with anyone else. She keeps to herself and always works when she’s not surfing. It’s almost like staying with a big sister, kind of looking out for you but at the same time teases the crap out of you when you let your guard down. We’d reflect on the past 15 years and how the tour’s changed, not changed, how Brazil was different, and what we wanted to do in the future. It was refreshing because Layne knows exactly what she wants to do with her life and knows how to achieve every goal she has. It kind of fired me up. Oh -- and she was very neat and orderly. I was the messy kid, as usual!

I stayed around the comp for a few days with lots of rain, huge surf, and Billabong events and parties. Plus, Bec Woods celebrated her 24^th birthday. We took her to a big meat house where you pretty much eat ’til you drop and then don’t move for days. Brazil is famous for them -- Scotty, Sof’s boyfriend ate two cows and I was very impressed. We went up to the Christ statue and saw the most amazing sunset and took some really nice pictures. You’re up with the clouds. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling.

And last but not least, congratulations to my fellow Hawaiian ripper, Melanie Bartels. Early in the week I knew Mel was going to go big and win this thing. Being sponsorless, she had to miss an event and had fallen down the ratings but she was trying very hard and you can see a new sense of hunger in her. So can somebody please sponsor this girl? They’re saying if she posts a good showing in Manly it could be title on!

All in all, Brazil has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, most active lifestyles, some of the best food and, according to all the girls on tour, the best Acai (that’s where it comes from). The people have tons of energy and everyone’s so hospitable. And now, after 40 or some hours of flying back to Hawaii, I finally get some home time and then it’s off to the land down under and my favorite city in the world: Sydney.

*READ ALL OF MEGAN'S SERIES, "TRUE TALES FROM THE WORLD TOUR," ON http://www.surfline.com/womens />SURFLINE WOMEN.

MOULES ET FRITES!

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:08:09 GMT

When I think of France, there are three things that come to my mind instantly. Endless beachbreaks,red wine and croissants. So for a surfer it is a dream destination if you just want to have a relaxing holiday with some fun beachbreaks. The cuisine is wonderful, the people a bit uptight because its their summer holidays and there are just way too many people in the south of france, the wine is very good and very cheap. You can bronze your breasts if you feel like it, and you can literally sit on the beach in total blazing sunlight from 7 am til 10 pm. I like to call it heaven wrapped up in a big baguette.

Every year I tend to rent a different house somewhere along the hossegor/ seignosse coastline and this year my house fell one roundabout from the infamous Rockfood and restaurants in the surrounding area. Basically walking distance from the crazy nights

france has to offer. But wait I was in france for a world championship event so it was business first. After two days of long travel I landed in France, I couldn’t wait to take advantage of the good waves and long days. I’ve had as many as 5 surfs in one day in

france. In Hawaii we just don’t have that kind of daylight.

This year I rented a house with Amee Donohoe and Sam Cornish, two very well established and focused veterans. They’re both pretty underground as they don’t have major clothing industry sponsor, but they both sit respectively in world number 4 and 5. Not bad for a couple of chicks from New south wales with no major sponsor but have major world title aspirations. They are the real deal and put a lot into training, surfing, and mental focus. No groms at all! , oh wait there was Nikita robb, she stayed around for a few weeks after Portugal to watch a bit of WCT action and do the European Junior Competition prior to

Our event. Nikita is a very talented young surfer out of south Africa and has a lethal backhand. I had never stayed with either Amee and Sam and was excited to see the way they traveled, cooked, cleaned, and

I always love the morning routine. I’m fascinated by seeing how everyone wakes up. Do they go straight to the coffee maker? Do they eat first? Yoga anyone? Straight in the line up for a surf? But nope these girls were sleepers, and france makes you sleep in like no other place. They have these amazing things called shutters, that pretty much seal up all of the light that may have made your body clock wake up. I am a 6:30 am straight to the coffee machine riser, but in france Im not gonna lie I was rising at 10:00 am.

Our house was kinda creepy, it had this really cheesy 1970’s décor, and a shower with 20 shower heads and kind of made you wonder who owned the joint. But it was france and it didn’t smell too bad. Most of the houses you rent in this part of france are locked up all year and when summer comes around they rent them out. So we got lucky our houses wasn’t too bad and it had a few rooms, and a decent kitchen.

Now that the euro is so high, you gotta watch burning holes in t he old pocket because it can get very expensive buying three meals a day.

The first couple days in france were spent at the beach. Surfing, tanning, eating fresh fruit all day, and trying to figure the contest bank out. Each day a whole group of us would get together and layout and surf. It’s pretty fun, it makes you feel like a grommet again just hanging on the beach all day long and surfing. I went to the markets the first day I was there and bought amazing peaches, strawberries, and cheese. I would bring that down with a baguette and be satisfied. At the end of the day we would go to a local restaurant and order the house red for about 4 euros and just talk story. Some of the girls would order moules and frites. Which is probably the most famous meal in that part of france. It means mussels and fries. You can order in ala plancha(grilled) a la

crème( cream style) or a bunch of other ways I forgot. I’m very allergic to shellfish so I would just watch everyone eat moules et frites while I usually ate pizza. I love the pizza in france! Its quite thin crusted almost like a tortilla. And the veggies they put are real lean, so is the meat. Its not like in America where you put salami, and sausage. Its more like ham, artichokes, eggplant, chicken, even tuna fish. Can you believe that, tuna fish on a pizza?

The event started, and finished. As many of you have already read who won and what happened. Im not writing about that, I’m writing about what it’s like to live, win, lose, and how the tour really feels from my perspective. So I will tell you I got my first 17th and it sucked! I was pretty pissed off and wanted to blow some steam off so a bunch of us gals who lost decided to get our dancing shoes on and feel like winners anyways! We went out to the local hang out spot and the owner of Rockfood , Roland gave us anything we wanted and we got to have a whole bunch of laughs. It always makes you feel better when you lose. Well it looked like I was going to have an entire week off before I went to brazil! Yippee! So looks like I get to sightsee, surf, and train for another round of competition. I usually need a few days to dust a loss of and recap the event and get ready for the next one.

We had a couple of bbq’s Hawaiian and aussie style mixed with a bit of French flare. All the fruits and vegetables are so fresh so you can make up these massive meals and feel so good at the end of them because they are just so fresh.

I went to Biarritz with a few of the girls and took a walking tour around the city. We had coffees on the boardwalk, took cheesy tourist photos, ate frites, and watched this old basque man cook up the meanest paella. It looked insane! It is a basque dish that consists of rice, seafood, vegetables, and chicken! It would be so yummy if I could eat it. And of course we topped it off with amazing gelato. It kind of seems like all we do is indulge on this world tour. No wait not true, there is lots of surfing and training going down. But when your in one of the most beautiful cities on the beach in the world you have to immerse yourself in the culture and go all out. Our French friend amandine sanchez took us down into the harbor to just have a drink and enjoy the scenery. It was so beautiful! Then before we left we decided to take a whole bunch of I love myself photos I call them.

Where we all hold the camera and take photos of ourselves or each other. Back to Hossegor for more surfing and the old, I gotta pack and move on to the next town!!

I surfed the day before I flew out and managed to stab myself in the hand. Luckily Jessie miley dyer was right ther and she took me to the hospital in bayonne. But what I have to tell you is that, Jessie didn’t know how to drive a manual, and bayonne is a big city 20 minutes away! It was the funniest drive ever. She was absolutely hilarious! Stalling here, there, everywhere. Burning the clutch out. She didn’t want to stop at red lights. But I gotta give her credit, I was bleeding all over and she kept her cool. And she made me laugh the whole time so I forgot about my hand a bit. She also remembered to bring red bull to the hospital in her purse in case I passed out she said. Is that not the funniest thing you’ve ever heard. At one point I was in the waiting room so irritated knowing I only needed a couple stitches and had to sit there for hours, she looked at me and said “ it’s ok, I have red bull” geeze! Only J middy diddy.

So to end it france was amazing for food, laughs, sunbaking, surfing, and wine. Oh and dancing. But france wasn’t amazing for a contest result. But hey you take it all with a grain of salt and pinch yourself at the end of the day and remember , I’m in the south of france where I can surf nude if I want to. Haha! Just kidding.

Well we survived that only to get on board air france flight 442 to

Rio!!!!!!

INDO!!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:22:19 GMT

I just went to Indonesia on a boat trip with seven amazingly diverse, musically inclined, artistically talented funny chicks. If I could say all of those things in one sentence properly, they were all of the above. Kassia Meador and I planned a boat trip to Indo with a more diverse group of women than we’ve ever gone with before. Usually we go on trips based on who’s rated what and who’s killing it at that time and only for purposes of getting good photos and film. This time we didn’t really think about photos or filming as much as the good vibe. We just wanted to go on a chill boat trip with some talented women surfers in and out of the water. So we got together and this is what we came up with:

Lee Ann Curren (AKA charger and daughter of the infamous Tom Curren -- it was scary the similarities between her and her father). She was always charging and playing really good tunes on the boat. And I gave her mad props for cutting her bangs herself the morning of her departure for the boat trip.

Sally Fitsgibbons (AKA Giblet), official token grom of the trip who surfed better than just about anyone in Indonesia at the time and, might I add, has just qualified for the ASP women’s World Tour two weeks after our trip at 17 and halfway through the year. I feel honored having been able to go on a trip with her before she’s untouchable. Serena Brooke (AKA Tassie Devil), my bunkmate and hell charger did the biggest floater I’ve ever seen a woman do on this six foot bombie. She showed up to Indo without clothes -- only army pants and a puff jacket in hand so she had to do with an entire Megan wardrobe. It was funny, but for her it was only funny for a couple of days.

Then there’s Lyndsay Noyes who rode weird boards all the time. Despite the fact that she’s extremely talented on a modern day shortboard, she rode this thing called an Alea. So weird. Its what the Hawaiians used when surfing was first introduced. It’s about half an inch thick and five feet long -- a wood plank with no wax was her choice of equipment. Pretty amazing stuff, oh and she plays a mean guitar as well.

Stephanie Gilmore -- need I say more? World Champion, blues specialty guitarist, ear-to-ear smiles and maybe the best female to ever stand on a surfboard. Yes, it was a treat to watch her on every wave she caught. You can learn so much by watching Steph for a few hours, which I got to do because I was sick for the first week of the boat trip.

Last but not least there’s Kassia Meador, female surfing icon, the toes on the nose queen and one of the main faces of Roxy for the past 10 years. She was the only other girl besides me that doesn’t play guitar, so I didn’t feel that out of place. But she’s very artistic and was always drawing on her board or taking photos. She was on iphoto when she wasn’t surfing. She also had the biggest laugh on the boat. All around a really good, mellow crew.

I started off with super bad shoulder tendonitis and couldn’t even lift my arm to drink a cup of coffee. But it was OK, I was in good spirits and just went swimming and videod the girls for days. So at least I have a fun collection of footage. How bummed can you get in Indo? Then I got a mysterious flu and was out for a few more days. But the chef was making the best ginger, lemon and honey teas for me. This year I took it upon myself to invest in a really good camera and video camera so I can look back on my amazing life and never forget the beautiful people and the places surfing’s allowed me to share. At 30 I guess you realize that it won’t last forever so if there’s anything you can do to make memories last then I’ll preserve them. Our trip was hosted by the Indies Trader 2 and captained by Albert, um forgot his last name. But he’s a coffee connoisseur and gave us lessons on coffee every afternoon at three. He’s one of the very first Mentawai captains and has been working in Indo for a long time, his main goal was to always get us waves without too many people, which we succeeded quite often in doing so. We surfed so many different types of waves and used various types of equipment. I brought a red finless board with me to Indo and it was super hard to surf. I was a bit cocky and thought that I would own the thing. Well, it owned me and I looked like a crab doing five 360s per wave. Lynz, who at times looked just as funny as me, couldn’t stop laughing.

One morning we were surfing this little beach break and the captain wasn’t paying attention and thought we would do a floater over this wave with six of us in a tin boat, we went over with the lip. Sonny, Jeff, Serena and I all bailed out but Lynz stayed in and we thought she was done for and somehow Albert pulled through and she only had a few bruises. Even though I laugh it was one of the scariest boat incidents I’d ever been in.

I learned about coffee that is pooped out by monkeys and actually tastes like the best coffee in the world. People pay big money to drink this stuff they call coffee Luac. It wasn’t your typical boat trip. We surfed some pretty fun waves that allowed us to all try and catch up with Sally in the air department, but not really. She was doing two airs a wave, and I was doing crab airs. Never too late to try, I guess. I think what helped sally was she had so much energy from eating two plates full of food a meal so she had to burn it off somehow. There wasn’t much fish in Indonesia this time, but lucky for me I caught a hungry little sucker. Cook made a delicious meal out of it. Our cook was pretty insane and had been Madonna’s personal chef before so we all thought he was pretty much the coolest guy ever, plus he had the best Kiwi accent. One night I decided to have a few BingTang beers and do a solo INXS act and the groms had never witnessed this before. I grabbed Lee Anns guitar and played suicide blonde air guitar and they secretly filmed it. So when I’m old I can watch myself make an arse of myself.

We watched movies and jammed music when we weren’t surfing. We got quite a few waves to ourselves but here and there would be other boats and we would have to share waves. One day we ran into a cool boat full of Japanese surfers which was funny. Kassia does this really good Japanese impression so she decided to utilize it and speak to them with her funny accent. It was hilarious. Every afternoon we’d sit around in the lineup or the tin boat and talk crap and have a beer and just laugh at each other. I faced my fears and jumped off the top of the boat. I was so scared but glad I did it in the end. All the girls were yelling from Lances Rights calling me a wuss if I didn’t do it. So I had to. Poor Serena had to share a room with me and my bag somehow caught the same virus as me and vomited all over the room. She’s such a clean person too, it must have pissed her off. My bag exploded everywhere. I get so ADD that I’d go for a surf and go to change but want to rush upstairs so fast that I’d just tear my bag apart.

We watched a couple of super bad movies as well. One of the movies we had to hide Sallys eyes from. On the last two days of the trip we ran into another boatload of female surfers on the start of their trip. It was a pretty amazing thing. In all of the years I had been going to the Mentawais since 1997 there’s always been like the token female boat trip. Well it shows how times have changed because it was the first time there’s ever been two female trips in the Mentawais at the same time. It was a sight to see, 15 girls taking over perfect lances right. That last day was epic and we got to share it with a bunch of our other friends. We got barreled almost every wave and couldn’t stop smiling. We were trying to scheme a way to stay out another week. It was funny. But in the end, I got barreled on my last wave did I sick turn, kicked out and ended up a foot from the tin boat. They threw me a beer and I watched Steph get shacked, the sunset beautifully over the land behind us, and I just smiled cause it was the funnest trip I’d ever had to Indo. The waves weren’t perfect the whole time, just fun. But the vibe was good. The vibe. So now when I go back to Indo or go on another surf trip I’ll never forget it’s not the waves that make a trip , it’s the good times and good vibes. The end.