Magnificent sailing conditions prevailed Saturday for the 52nd running of the Trans Tahoe Regatta, the annual feature race of the Tahoe Yacht Club summer sailboat racing season.

The 15- to 18-knot breeze and bright sky were ideal for the Tahoe Yacht Club’s large keelboats, which finished the 31-nautical-mile course in under five hours.

First place overall went to the Farr 36 Wicked owned by Richard Courcier and John Corda of Tahoe City and helmed by Courcier.

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Second place was the 40-foot J/125 August Ice, owned and helmed by Richard Ferris of Tahoe City (Dollar Point), a five-time winner of the Trans Tahoe. August Ice also was the first to finish, completing the course in 4 hours 45 minutes, amazingly beating Matt Bansak’s ultrafast Hobie Tiger catamaran, Slingshot, by 10 minutes.

Third place was the Farr 36 Racer X, owned and helmed by Gary Redelberger of Tahoe City.

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The two Farrs — having identical designs — fought tack-to-tack throughout the first half of the race, with Racer X leading around the windward mark off Eagle Rock and across the Lake to a deep-water mark off Dead Man’s Point, just north of Glenbrook Bay on the East Shore.

On the return to Sugar Pine Point, a snapped backstay slowed Racer X, and Wicked won the duel by 5.5 minutes at the finish.

Skipper Courcier noted that his crack crew “sailed a smooth race all the way and had no mishaps.”

Meanwhile, Redelberger’ declared that the snapped backstay “was not why Racer X dropped to third,” as he acknowledged that “Wicked simply sailed a faster race that day. “

Winning in the Keelboat Division 2 was the Venture 24 owned by Les Bartlett of Homewood, another five-time winner of the Trans Tahoe.

Bartlett noted that his veteran but light crew — Bartlett, Jim Fleming and Jennifer Calmus — had a tough time holding down the boat, especially during the upwind, westward leg from Dead Man’s Point to Sugar Pine Point. Bartlett explained that he had to feather his mainsail and point the boat upwind using mostly his large Genoa sail to drive the boat forward.

Nevertheless, “with our mainsail flopping, we still maintained six knots across the Lake,” he noted.

Based on corrected time under the TYC’s handicap system, Groovy finished in fourth place overall, six minutes behind the third place finisher, Racer X.

Winning in the multi-hull division was William Cook’s Wings, the Corsair 24 whose handicap allowed her to beat the much faster Hobie Tiger and Reynolds 33.

First place in the Cruising division — which uses no spinnaker sails and sails a shorter course — was perennial winner Charles Quaglieri and his family aboard Brainwave, the Wylie 30.

Brainwave beat second-place finisher Osprey, Jamie Casey’s new Alerian 28.