SI Swimsuit Edition features Seafair Pirates

All day Tuesday, Seafair Pirates searched Seattle for coveted booty -- the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

A group of pirates are featured on page 186 of the new edition of the magazine, posing with model Melissa Haro, a California native who earned fame on the first season of "Project Runway."

"The captain still hasn't found one," said Pirate Mark "Keelhaul" Jensen, who had a friend flying through New York grab him a copy when the magazine was released Tuesday morning.

In some of the photos, Jensen, the captain and eight other Seafair Pirates stand behind Haro, who also modeled swimwear by West Seattle designer Heidi Fish during parts of the Sports Illustrated photo shoot.

The adventure started last November when the Seafair Pirates appeared during Pirates Week in the Cayman Islands, something they've done for nearly three decades, Jensen said.

He was in contact with a magazine employee during another business deal and said if the swimsuit models needed accompaniment, the Seafair Pirates could be there. Staff at Sports Illustrated took the Pirates' offer.

The shoot at Grand Cayman started about 7 a.m., and Haro "was a real sweetheart," Jensen said.

"She was having a lot of fun with the pirates. Then we started singing and they said 'You guys sing, too? Oh, this is too cool.' "

So is seeing the Pirates in the world's most popular swimsuit publication, even though they're not identified as the Seafair Pirates in the magazine, he said. It also gives them a vested interest in the issue.

"This time," Jensen joked, "I had to pick it up."