A few years back, Kim Carver was working on commercial ships and looking for a way to finance the publication of her fledgling maritime magazine.

Though she worked in the traditionally male-dominated maritime industry, the Northwest native realized she was routinely crewing alongside women who were not just strong and accomplished, but downright sexy.

Taking a cue from the countless steamy calendars of firefighters, cheerleaders and other objects of desire, Carver rounded up some of her female friends working in the maritime industry around Seattle and photographed them in various stages of undress, on ships and in other locations.

And soon, the Sexy Women of Maritime Calendar was born.

Now in its second year, the calendar has created a buzz in maritime circles and spawned a devoted and, Carver hopes, growing group of fans who are seeing seafaring women in a new light.

The calendar, Carver says, is a way of encouraging more women to work in maritime trades and demonstrating that tough and sexy aren’t mutually exclusive.

Elaine, Miss September, has sailed on several continents and has a 500-ton Master license.

“There are plenty of women out there in the maritime industry,” says Carver, whose circle of friends includes female delivery captains and a woman who works on tankers as a diesel engineer. “And you can be a girl. You can be sexy and you can travel and you can have fun and you can make money, and it’s fine working with men.”

The calendar models are not just pretty faces—Carver chose women with maritime industry creds that would impress even the crustiest old salts. There’s Lia, a stunning six-foot brunette from Seattle who’s a scientist and is working toward her 100-ton Coast Guard Master license. Elaine, Miss April, holds a 500-ton Master license, has sailed on several continents and has images of the tall ships she’s worked on tattooed on her thigh.

Meegan, who appears on the cover of the 2010 calendar wearing only rubber boots and overalls, was in the Navy, worked on a salmon boat and did an internship in South Africa that involved cage diving with great white sharks.

“They’re sexy and strong and funny and motivated and ambitious,” Carver says of the calendar models, who range in age from 19 to 39. “I like putting girls in that I respect.”

Carver, 36, is no slouch either. She’s been a crew member and captain on several tall ships, worked on tugboats, drove the water taxi between West Seattle and downtown and has logged 650 days of sea time. She’s currently the cook aboard the Lady Washington while it’s moored in Aberdeen, Wash., for an engine refit.

Miss January 2009, Kim Carver, who publishes the calendar.

Though she grew up in Seattle, Carver wasn’t around boats as a child. She pursued a career in tourism as a way to travel, and following stints in the Air Force and as a tour operator in the Grand Canyon, was hired to run a whale watch operation in the San Juan Islands. She became fascinated by boats and was soon doing volunteer work on tall ships. She was hired to crew on the Lady Washington, the official ship of the state, in 2003.

Life aboard suited Carver, who decided to start a magazine to promote and share the maritime culture she’d come to love. In January of 2007 she put out the first issue of Jack Tar magazine, a small, black and white publication with articles on practical topics such a healthcare for sailors, along with poems, interviews and essays about life at sea.

Carver has so far published four issues of the magazine. Articles are written by contributors, mostly friends, and Carver hopes to enlist more people to chronicle various aspects of boating life, from fishing to working on research vessels, from relationships on board to adjusting to life ashore.

But publishing is costly, particularly on a tall ship sailor’s salary, and Carver is only publishing on her blog until she raises more money, hopefully through sales of the calendar. She first had the idea for it in 2003, when she was working with several female crew members on Lady Washington.

“We had all these beautiful girls on board, and just a different style of girl than what you see in all the skanky calendars around,” Carver says. “They’re sailors and especially strong. You have to be extremely strong to work on this boat and be climbing aloft every day and hauling on ropes. One girl in particular, she was like an Amazon version of a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.”

Cass repairs wooden boats and lives aboard a traditionally rigged custom sloop.

For last year’s inaugural calendar, Carver took almost all of the photos, collaborating with the models on wardrobe and poses.

“I’m not an especially talented photographer, but I have a really clear idea of what I want,” she says. “For me it’s all about the look. It’s got to be kind of goofy and sexy, but not totally ridiculous and not trashy-sexy.”

The calendars are sold via CafePress.com, a print-on-demand company. Carver hopes to print and sell the 2011 version herself so she can keep a bigger chunk of the revenues. She hasn’t done any marketing other than word of mouth—”I’m a terrible salesperson,” Carver says—and has so far sold around 300 copies.

The calendar was mentioned on the popular gCaptain online forum, with a poll asking posters to vote on their favorite girl (Carver, incidenally, got the highest number of votes).

“I’ll tell you guys what,” wrote a poster named CMA Decky, “tall ship girls are something else.”

Carver in her regular work clothes

Carl Rhodes, a friend of Carver’s and a NOAA Corps officer working out of Woods Hole, Mass., bought calendars this year and last and is an enthusiastic supporter.

“I think it’s a great idea,” says Rhodes, who photographed Carver for last year’s calendar. “I’ve got a lot of female friends who work on the tall ships and they’re all for it. It’s kind of a niche that nothing’s ever been done with.”

Not surprisingly, Carver says about two-thirds of people buying the calendar are men. Orders have come from as far away as Europe, Australia and Japan, and Carver says CafePress received enough requests to agree to reprint last year’s calendar with this year’s dates. There’s also a 2010 calendar with new photos ($17.99 for either edition) featuring models from around the U.S., and customers can buy a single-page calendar featuring their favorite model ($6.99).

“Most people love (the calendars),” she said. “I get a lot of great feedback.”

And not just from men. Carver says women have been contacting her increasingly often, asking to be in the calendar. She acknowledges that some may disagree with showing scantily-clad women in suggestive poses. But what Carver sees in the photos are assertive, ambitious women fully in charge of their lives.

Weronica, who lives in Poland, is a bo's'n who sails full-rigged ships around Europe.

“I know all of these women and none of them are submissive in any way,” she says. “They’re all extremely strong.”

Peter Mello, founder of Sea-Fever Consulting LLC and the former chief executive officer of the American Sail Training Association, says the calendars can “stimulate dialogue on issues such as workplace diversity and equality,” and raise awareness about women working in the maritime industry. 

“There’s a long tradition of these types of calendars, especially in the UK, that raise awareness of issues, or fundraise, which are done with taste and humor,” says Mello, who lives in Mattapoisett, Mass. ”I think that Kim’s doing a great job following this tradition.”

Carver is already thinking about the 2011 calendar—in particular, how to satisfy divergent customer requests. Some men, she says, have asked for a more modest calendar they can put up at work, while others are requesting more skin.

Carver admits she “set a precedent” with last year’s steamy cover of herself in panties and a sheer camisole, and this year’s photo of Miss December, (“she loves being naked,” Carver says) wrapped only in a revealing white net. Carver draws the line at full nudity but is willing to show a little more skin.

“If I’m going to make more money,” she says, “there has to be. But I’m not crossing the boundary into that other industry I don’t want to be in.”

Only one model in the 2010 calendar, Miss January, is clothed head to toe, photographed curled up inside a coiled line. The model, Weronica, is a bo’s'n who works on large ships in Russia and Poland, where she lives.

“I couldn’t get her to take off enough clothes. It was too cold,” Carver says. “So she’s fully clothed. But she’s so beautiful it makes up for it.”