The Freshwater Pro, the eighth stage of the world tour, revealed a new competition format today, with some slightly confusing aspects that were different from last year.

There are six sets of six people in men (6 x 6 = 36) and three in women (6 x 3 = 18).

Those who place first and second in each heat and the next 12 in the overall ranking (which adds up the best left and the best right) win the right to surf one more left and one more right (that's 24 surfers).

That is, 24 out of 36 surfers are going to surf six waves each, three lefts and three rights.

The eight best scores of those 24, regardless of which series they come from, advance to the grand final.

In the grand final, the eight surf two rights and two lefts, the two best waves are awarded points (one left + one right) and the four best decide with one more wave on each side. The four worst finish tied for fifth.

In ladies the same thing happens but proportionally:

-There are 18 distributed in three series of six, the two best and the next six best scores get to surf one more wave.

-After surfing these waves, four finalists are determined, who surf two lefts and two rights. The two worst are eliminated and the two best surf one more left and one more right, which can change the score.

What this does is put more pressure on the surfers in all their waves while at the same time making them surf more conservatively. There has been little risk taking in the early sections so far this event.

There were soon surfers who were virtually eliminated after riding four waves, such as Matheus Herdy and Peterson Crisanto, who totaled mere 8,77 and 9,73 respectively.

Last year's event gave six waves to all surfers.