Kelly Slater beat Australian Daniel Ross in his heat today at the Rip Curl Pro Search surf contest at Ocean Beach and gained enough points finish the ASP pro tour in first place. It’s the 11th championship for Slater, and his first secured on the U.S. mainland.

Kelly Slater exits the water at Ocean Beach // Photo courtesy of Rip Curl

Thousands of spectators showed up at Ocean Beach to watch Slater surf the highly competitive heat this afternoon, with both Ross and Slater running neck-in-neck through most of the heat. With 10-minutes to go, Ross lead 14.40-13.50 over Slater. With 3:45 left in the heat Slater caught the longest wave of the heat to earn a 7.60 score and take the lead over Ross14.40-13.53.

Slater won ASP World Tour titles in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

UPDATE: There’s a mob scene on the beach. Watch it here: http://live.ripcurl.com/index.php?Search2011LiveControl