Marines Keep Catamaran Marathon Lead

Team U.S. Marines maintained its lead in overall elapsed time by finishing second Friday in the 11th of 13 legs of the Pacific 1,000 catamaran marathon race off Long Beach.

The Marines, skippered by Mike Christensen of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., were 11 minutes behind Girardi Racing in the 70-mile leg, but their final time of 9 hours 51 minutes 3 seconds gave them an overall time of 78 hours 15 minutes 30 seconds.

Girardi Racing, skippered by Australian Brett Watson, finished Friday’s leg in 9:39:27 and was second in the overall standings at 79:54:28.

The race will wind up today with two legs, from Long Beach to Huntington Beach and back.