This news as been out a while but seems no one here has caught on yet.
It is an end of another long era in windsurf history.
bye bye Gaastra - hello GA's. 
That will go down well.
"Today we are proud and excited to introduce our new logo for Gaastra: GA
We will follow the spirit of the time and update the brand logo ?Gaastra? into the new modern ?GA? logo!
We will not leave behind our roots and history, but in tribute to globalisation and our international relations we will take-off into a new era. Providing fresh artworks to serve future-proof existing and new markets.
We will now refresh the classic Gaastra image to be more progressive and be prepared for the future.?
See the new logo here.
www.windsurfing44.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11011&start=30
The old logo is as recognizable as the Neil Pryde target or the Ezzy Fairy, flying looking thing.
Its sad they have to resort to **** like that.
Select to expand quoteAUS1111 said..
How is that pronounced?
How do you pronounce KA? There you go.
It's amazing how to they took an iconic icon and literally destroyed it. I bet this was designed via a web site such as 99designs.
Select to expand quotestehsegler said..
It's amazing how to they took an iconic icon and literally destroyed it. I bet this was designed via a web site such as 99designs.
My money is on Vistaprint doing it - it is possibly the crappiest logo design and rebranding I've seen.
Only ever owned one Gaastra and that was back in 1986 - my pride and joy;
Can't believe they need to change the logo the old one is better anywayand has a great history. What would robbie say.
Select to expand quotestehsegler said..
It's amazing how to they took an iconic icon and literally destroyed it. I bet this was designed via a web site such as 99designs.
Agree, that's G awd A wful
To make things easier, here's the before and after:
IMO, I like the previous "castle" style logo - looks as relevant today as 100 years ago (or thereabouts).
I'll keep it unanimous - Bad Move.
The amount of intelligence required to come up with that makes me think it was someone very high up in the company with an admin background.
that Ezzy Fairy, flying thing is a Winged Star only for super stars like myself, well in my world and my mums
Logos can make or break business, its not to bad, progress is good
The new logo is woeful.
For a bit of useless information about the old Gaastra "castle" logo, it is the water-gate over a canal in Sneek in Holland, where the brand started. The water-gate is apparently the symbol of the city.
Look up this link, which also mentions the "clothing" brand Gaastra.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneek
This photo comes from the wikipedia site.
(correct link now added, thanks albers)
Clarence
A terrible marketing decision. The castle logo is as recognisable as the NP roundrle and the Mistral red dot. The castle is so iconic a replica of it is in China at the factory where most windsurfing sails are made.
Perhaps this is an early April Fools joke.
Select to expand quotealbers said..
And thanks to the .www here's the original (as referred to by clarence)
I don't care what anyone says the old logo was a transformer/spaceship and that's that..
Oh no no no big disaster this just doesn't seem right how can they submit to the needs of the computer. The very thing that keeps our children inside on beautiful sunny windy days and not outdoors learning how to use a sailboard. This is the ultimate treachery.
They changed it as the old one looked like a Transformers version of the Starboard logo.
Lawsuits threatened by both the movie franchise and Svein Rass. It got ugly.
When Megan Fox got into it, they did what they were told.
Anyway I have heard GOOD good things about their new wavesails and freestyle sail (as of 2014 models) and they look great. So whoever has started to re-invigorate the brand is doing really well. If part of that is a new logo, meh who cares - it is about the vibe (and price). Get those right and well.....
Select to expand quoteMagnus8 said..
GA Sails
"Love to be Rigged"
GA Sails - Stiff tip mast only
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
If part of that is a new logo, meh who cares - it is about the vibe (and price). Get those right and well.....
As someone with a design background I find the new logo an insult. I know the average punter out there probably doesn't put the same weight on it but to me if they cut corners trying to reinvent their well established brand it makes me wonder where else they are cutting corners.
It's almost like this guy should do a piece on this logo:
^^^^^ I love this guy's passion....and he is right too
What I think counts for sh!t, but I agree that the new logo and name for Gaastra has trashed an icon that had it's roots in the beginning of our great sport. A shame really.
Draplin is awesome, he tells it like it is, big fan :)
That logo is really very bad - if anything the old one looks more modern than the new one...more progressive my @#$#@. The brief must have said something like "we want a modern logo that will be cool with the hipsters so make it look 80's trendy and the logo must have lots and lots of triangles. We don't want to hold onto our past history that everyone knows about, so lets scrap it all and change the name 
What does the 'A' stand for anyway? The only possibility I ca think of is Lady GaGa has secretly taken up windsurfing and bought the company 
Gaastra clearly had to reinvent / reinvigorate themselve, given their significantly reduced impact in todays market. The new name and logo is a start. Hopefully the real efforthas gone into new sail design. Time will tell.
Had one of those too Sausage - 7.0m fully battened mylar racing sail. Wow!
And came with a blue 1 piece fibreglass mast 
Select to expand quotesausage said..
My money is on Vistaprint doing it - it is possibly the crappiest logo design and rebranding I've seen.
Only ever owned one Gaastra and that was back in 1986 - my pride and joy;
like it or loathe it, we are ALL talking about it so the marketing people have achieved their objective. A logo doesn't make a sail any better so it is a moot point.
Israel Folau couldn't play AFL, but damn he got everyone talking about it. He was worth every cent the Giants paid him for the amount of publicity he got for them. The same way redesigning the Gasstra logo has got us talking about them and their sails.
^^^ absolutely agree. The 2014 sails are fantastic which is probably the most important thing
