Locals start sailing group to save tradition
NORWALK — The Norwalk Sailing School is set to return to the city this summer, with many of the same instructors but under new tutelage.
A group of local residents and parents banded together to form the Norwalk Sailing School LLC in the hopes of carrying on the nearly six-decade tradition of sailing training. The initiative started in late March when the city informed current Norwalk
Sailing School instructor and President Bruce Caslowitz it would not be renewing the school’s lease after 56 years.
The city released a request for proposals for a new sailing school operator in late March, to which the Norwalk Sailing School LLC was the sole responder, according to city documents.
On Thursday, the group received a letter of intent from the city, informally
granting the startup the role, one of the group’s founders Nodira Isamiddinova said.
“They intend to announce us as the winning bid, but there are still formal stages in the approval process,” Isamiddinova said.
Isamiddinova, who moved to Norwalk in August, organized the group after posting on Facebook about an interest in sailing lessons for herself and her children, and a desire to save the long-standing institution.
Should everything go to plan, the new school will be operational this summer, with many of the staffers remaining, Isamiddinova said.
“I understood from information he himself (Caslowitz) provided, the way the RFP was put together, it was not realistic for his entity to apply,” Isamiddinova said. “It was kind of tragic, after 36 years he’s been leading the school. I felt really bad about it.”
Operating the school
requires thousands of dollars of upfront costs, including insurance, payroll for the school’s staff and equipment costs.
To raise the funds, the school will begin offering summer camp signups and kayak and boat reservation and rental fees in the hopes of earning the money before the season is expected to officially start, Isamiddinova said.
“Right now, we are looking to just be able to start and make it through the season,” she said. “That’s why we will be rolling out signups if people sign up for camp. We will be doing seasonal rental passes for some equipment. We are planning to generate some cash upfront through this model. We will also do a fundraiser just to help us start going, we don’t have a huge sponsor behind us or public funds or grants.”
For decades the nonprofit school, officially named the Norwalk Small Craft Safety Training Program Inc., leased the building on Calf Pasture Beach at five-year intervals for $1 per year, only upping the price to $5 in 2014, Caslowitz said.
When the latest lease ended in June 2020, the city extended the lease another year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately decided not to renew again.
Under the RFP, the city was looking for a more formal agreement with a
company to provide similar services to those the sailing school offered.
City spokesperson Josh Morgan previously said the decision was nothing personal, and Caslowitz was welcome to apply for the role through the RFP. However, Caslowitz said
the nonprofit could not afford the terms laid out in the application.
The original Norwalk Sailing School was operating under the wrong type of lease agreement, Morgan claimed, one intended for tenants as opposed to renters providing services.
The RFP process is to formalize the relationship between the sailing school that winds up in the spot and the city, he said, and to ensure the land is being used to its full potential.
“(The city) dragged their feet to the end of March and put it out for two weeks and expected some big company to come in and bid on it,” Caslowitz said of the RFP.
With plans to relocate to Florida, Caslowitz intends to sell or gift most of his supplies and equipment to the new Norwalk Sailing School group and share the contact information of the families with whom he has worked.
“All the parents have sent emails waiting to sign their kids up this summer and I’ve instructed them how the progress is going,” Caslowitz said. “They’ve committed to buying most of the sailboats and the program will be intact.”
Morgan confirmed the RFP review committee is forwarding a recommendation to the committee and Common Council to be discussed and voted on in the coming weeks.
The Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee, and subsequently the Common Council, will vote on awarding of the bid to the Norwalk Sailing School in May, Morgan said.