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October 1, 2008 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 Beachley, Amee Donohoe, and Jessi Miley-Dyer 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 that big there. 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 22nd 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 that I bombed out of pretty quickly. The girls were ripping, though, in solid four- to six-foot shorebreak but in the end it was Bec Woods 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 by then, the tape was coming off my hand. We had a day off so local ripper Marina Werneck took a couple of us to the nearby 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 24th 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, Sofia Mulanovich'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 there 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. *For more Megan, check PiperGirls.com. WOMENS HOME PAGE WOMENS SURFNEWS ARCHIVE