Logo design for sailboat charter brokerage/crewed charter co.

PiratesAtlanta

We are a crewed charter company and sailboat charter brokerage. We are a group of friends and professionals who have a passion for sailing, and in our “spare” time we broker and crew sailing charters in the Caribbean (and hopefully other destinations to follow as we expand our customer base). PiratesAtlanta started nearly ten years ago, and has provided wonderful sailing experiences to friends and “friends of friends.” We now want to broaden the enterprise to become a more full-time pursuit and to reach independent customers.

Our primary target is other groups and professionals who enjoy sailing and are looking for a more personalized and fun (but every bit as professional and knowledgeable) way to charter than what they can get from the more established charter companies. Ideally we will reach financially secure people who will be repeat clients and who can extend our business through word-of-mouth to a network of similar friends and colleagues. However, we also see an opportunity to reach those who have never sailed/chartered before by offering the more personalized and customized experience. Our goal is to share the joy of sailing with others, so that they can fully experience these destinations (not confined to land). Our market includes people who enjoy beach and adventurous vacations. Typically they are not people who would take cruises or a “resort” vacation, but we would like to draw away some of that market to experience sailing.

--We are striving for a professional and upscale image (i.e., no cartoons, no pirate imagery)
--Image should convey fun and adventure (but not violence)
--Typeface should be crisp and bold—to stand out in a crowd and from a distance without being too “overbearing”
Please feel free to experiment with colors…though ideally we would have a logo that will show up well on a blue background (see Nike “Italy Blue”) as that is the proposed color for our crew attire.

--Would like to consider incorporating the nautical flags for "P" and "A" in the logo, but not a requirement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intern…gnal_flags

Please do not use any stock images or clip art in the logo.

The files we will require are:
Print file format - .ai (CMYK)
Web file format - .jpg and layered .psd (RGB)

Our logo uses include: website, printed materials and merchandise (t-shirts, koozies, beach towels, etc.) It would help us to have one element of the logo that could be separated from the “full” logo, for example, a “simple” logo with just the Pirates Atlanta name.

Comparative logo examples:
http://www.voyagecharters.com/ (like image but not font)
http://www.sunsail.co.uk/?redirect=true (like simplicity but not upscale enough)
http://www.viyachts.com/ (like font)
http://www.horizonyachtcharters.com (don't like)
http://sailtmm.com (design is okay, but colors don't stand out)

Good non-sailing logos: BP, Starbucks, Swatch, Maserati (but not colors)
http://www.goodlogo.com/top.250/interval/40

File with past logos and ideas available upon request.