On December 31, 2025, Delta Sailing Association closed the books on 75 years of small boat sailing in the Memphis/Mid-South area. A determination by the Corps of engineers two years earlier that the dam at Arkabutla Lake in DeSoto County, Mississippi was unstable and needed significant repairs taking over a decade to complete was too much for DSA to bridge.
A vote to dissolve the club and the adoption of an orderly process were approved by vote of members at the November 2024 Annual Meeting. Things moved fast after that with the DSA’s two Boston Whaler committee boats being donated to the Muscle Shoals Sailing Club and the Concord Yacht Club in Knoxville in January 2025 and the docks being sold off in that month as well. Owners of all remaining boats were told to remove their boats and an auction of anything remaining was held in April. A final cleanup day was held in May and a last picnic was held in June before we turned the site back to the Corp on June 30th.
Dues rebates were given to all those members who had paid a storage fee for the 2024-25 year and by December 31, 2025, the P.O. Box had been terminated, the State of Tennessee had been notified that we were sun-setting on that day and the bank account was closed. According to the adopted dissolution plan and the vote of members, residual funds were split between the International Lightning Class Association and the Thistle Class Association, the two one-design sailboat classes most popular with DSA members over the years, and the most significant guiding lights for our version of small boat sailing.
Left are memories for several generations of small boat sailors in the Memphis area. Hundreds of regattas, maybe thousands of weekend club races, lessons learned, family bonding, friends made, lifetime hobbies initiated, and much more will be remembered by those who sailed as part of Delta Sailing Association.
Tim Ryan, Commodore
Mark van Stolk, Secretary
Lynn Jones, Treasurer
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