The latest coronation of surfing star Kelly Slater had a distinctly Bay Area flavor Wednesday.

As the surf legend faced an adoring throng on a sun-kissed day in San Francisco, one fan bellowed, “Occupy Kelly.”

No doubt Slater, 39, occupies a rarefied space in pop culture, as he underscored again in winning his historic 11th world title on day two of the Rip Curl Pro Search contest at Ocean Beach.

Wind, waves and weather collaborated for an intoxicating brew to allow the Floridian to perform beautifully in ideal surfing conditions.

And when it was over, Slater dropped a bomb on the surf media saying he is “seriously considering whether I’m going to do the tour anymore after this.”

The timeless athlete who outperforms surfers half his age left the Association of Surfing Professionals tour from 1999-2002. He also returned with renewed vigor to push aside new stars and reclaim his unprecedented supremacy. His title record might never be broken, as no one has ever won more than four titles since the tour began in 1976.

Slater felt relief after narrowly escaping with victory in a 30-minute heat against Australian Dan Ross. The champion scored 15.13 points to beat the 25th-ranked Ross by .73 of a point.

“I didn’t win in the most effortless style,” Slater said. “When we started out he was right in sync with it, and I was nowhere to be found.”

Ross, 28, opened with the highest-scoring ride of the heat while Slater misjudged the shifting beach break by picking waves that faded too quickly to garner many points.

Slater rebounded with about four minutes on a five-foot wave with room to maneuver.

“It was a nice open face” wave, Slater said. “I didn’t do anything radical.”

He didn’t need to. Slater has a way to get more out of waves than anyone on the planet. Ross made a last-gasp effort for an upset by catching the heat’s biggest wave with fewer than two minutes left. But he couldn’t hold on to send Slater reeling.

Few have been able to knock back Slater, who won his first title in 1992 at age 20. Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro tries to watch all of Slater’s heats to copy him as best he can.

“He’s the master,” said Monteiro, who last year won the prestigious O’Neill World Cup of Surfing in Hawaii. “He’s the king of surf events. The way he surfs is different from the rest of us.”

Third-ranked Adriano de Souza of Brazil has conflicted emotions about Slater, saying the lord of surf has been a great mentor but also the fiercest competitor.

“Sometimes I love him, sometimes I hate him,” de Souza said.

All Slater got from thousands of San Francisco beachgoers was love.

But the sport’s greatest ambassador didn’t bask in pure joy because Wednesday was the first anniversary of the death of his friend Andy Irons, a three-time world champion. He died from cardiac arrest in a Texas hotel room because of blockage of a main artery, according to an autopsy report.

Surfers started the second day of competition at Ocean Beach by collectively paddling to the lineup to honor Irons. Just after accepting the world title trophy cup, Slater asked the crowd for a moment of silence.

The Rip Curl Search has until Nov. 12 to complete all rounds. It is the 11th stop on the 12-event world tour that travels to Australia, Brazil, France, Hawaii, Portugal and Tahiti. The season ends next month at the famed Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu.

Contact Elliott Almond at 408-920-5865 and follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/elliottalmond.