LONG BEACH, Calif.---Who knows how they did it a hundred years ago, but those early Transpacific Yacht Race competitors couldn't imagine how their successors are filing entries for the Centennial Transpac 2005.

Online.

Sailing events in the forefront of 21st century technology are using the method to simplify the process of getting to the starting line. With the first of three starts scheduled for July 11 and the Notice of Race now posted on the race Web site, all but one of the early birds have filed their entry forms from home, office or remote computers.

Kerry Deaver of Newport Beach and Bob Williamson of Corona del Mar are among those registering online. They are co-owners and skippers of Kahoots, an Andrews 43 representing the Los Angeles Yacht Club.

"It worked for me," said Deaver, 45, daughter of Dick Deaver, a two-time Congressional Cup winner and veteran offshore racer and world cruiser who was once Williamson's boat partner with the Islander 40, Fast Company.

Bill Lee, serving as entry chairman for the second consecutive Transpac, said online registration makes his job easier, too. "I said I wouldn't do it again if they didn't do it online. There are two reasons to do it. The competitors often have last-minute crew changes, and online is the easiest way for it to be entered and confirmed. Also, a lot of people here and in Hawaii need access to the information, and you want it in a data base online."

After submitting their information online, competitors also must make it official by mailing a signed paper entry, a signed waiver and a signed check.

Deaver and Williamson bought Kahoots (formerly It's OK) just this year. It will be their first Transpac, although both have raced on other boats to Mexico, and Deaver has done the Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii as a crew member.

Deaver explained that she and Williamson each owned their own boats but neither was suitable for a Transpac. "So we decided to sell our two boats and buy one," she said. "The boat was built for buoy racing. We've had to redo it with things like adding a stove, but it did have a door on the head."

Another early entry is Sally Honey as the solo skipper of Illusion, the Cal 40 fleet winner in 2003, while husband Stan Honey returns to Roy Disney's new maxZ86, Pyewacket, as navigator in its bid to break the Transpac elapsed time record for monohulls held by the previous Pyewacket. Operating online is second nature to Stan Honey, whose company has developed advanced communication systems in that element, along with the yellow first-down line used on telecasts of American football games.

Also checking in online were David Kory of Concord, Calif., who logged the second fastest Aloha Division corrected time in 2003 with a Catalina 38 named Barking Spider and returns with a MacGregor 65 of the same name; Chasch Mer, Gib Black's Santa Cruz 50 from Honolulu; Jacaré, Jeff Young and Rich Blackman's J/35, San Diego; Pursuit, Norman and Rosemary Dawley's Custom 48, Solomons, Md., and Radiant, Fin Beven's Cal 40, Pasadena, Calif.

Some key points in the Notice of Race:

• Information submitted with entries must include full boat and owner/skipper/charterer information and a photograph of the boat under sail. The photo shall be 2" X 2" or larger with a resolution no less than 300 dpi.
• Entry fees are determined by size and vary from $750 to $3,000 until March 12. A $50 discount will apply to the entry fee of an owner/charterer who is a current member of US Sailing.
• Monohull yachts must be at least 30 feet LOA and no slower than a Southern California PHRF off-wind course rating of 144 sec/mile. Multihull yachts must be at least 45 feet LOA.
• At least 30% of a boat's crew and at least two, including the owner/charterer, must have attended a US Sailing-sanctioned Safety at Sea Seminar within the last five years before the start of the race.

The Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship will conduct Safety at Sea Seminars in Newport Beach on Jan. 29 and July 9. Information: (949) 645-9412.

Information on seminars in other locations is available at the US Sailing WEB Site, by email at offshore@ussailing.org or by phoning (401) 683-0800.

• Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif.
• Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu.
• Jacaré (J/35), Jeff Young/Rich Blackman, San Diego.
• Kahoots (Andrews 43), Kerry Deaver, Newport Beach/Bob Williamson, Corona del Mar.
• Illusion (Cal 40), Sally Honey, Palo Alto, Calif.
• Merlin (Lee 68), Patricia Steele, Maui.
• Pursuit (Custom 48), Norman and Rosemary Dawley, Solomons, Md.
• Radiant (Cal 40), Fin Beven, Pasadena, Calif.