Back to the Gulf: Higgins returns to home region to start Tulane Varsity Sailing Program

Texas native is close to home after 10 years in Virginia

NEW ORLEANS – Finlay Higgins capsized into the water. A young Charles Higgins burst out laughing.

And from that moment, a sailing coach was born.

On a family vacation to Jamaica in the mid-1990s, Finlay Higgins decided to take sailing lessons on a small sailboat by himself. He didn’t do so well. But that flipped boat inspired his son. A long way away from his native Arlington, Texas, Charles Higgins first learned to love the sport.

“Being from Texas, football is about the only sport that seems to matter,” he said. “But, being 12 at the time [my father capsized], I thought it was hilarious.”

More than 20 years later, Charles Higgins is the first ever varsity sailing coach at Tulane. The sport officially attained varsity status at the university on Sunday after being announced in June 2017. Higgins was hired as the program’s first head coach in October following 10 years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Old Dominion University.

Returning home to the Lone Star State after his Jamaica vacation, Higgins took sailing lessons the next summer at the Fort Worth Boat Club on Eagle Mountain Lake. Something about the sport stuck with him, and his career path was changed.

Sailing was far from the first sport he tried. Higgins played football, basketball, baseball and golf in his youth.

“With the exception of golf, I really wasn’t good at any of them,” he joked.

But sailing was different. Entering his teenage years, sailing provided an opportunity for Higgins to be independent out on the water.

“Being able to just take a boat out and get away from absolutely everything was really intriguing,” Higgins said. “And learning to race something that was completely new and foreign to me was also really intriguing.”

The sport soon started to consume his weekends. In central Texas with few opportunities for races nearby, he began traveling three hours to Austin or – more often – six hours to Houston to sail competitively.

By his later years in high school, he was traveling much farther. Higgins made trips in two consecutive years to Miami for the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta where he placed in the top five both times. One of those times, he was the top-finishing American in his age group. He also traveled to England, Spain and even New Zealand for international regattas.

While he had always figured he’d attend the University of Texas for college, the opportunity to sail competitively in college arose as he was making waves in the club sailing scene. Taking a leap of faith, Higgins made the most of that opportunity and committed to Old Dominion having never set foot on the campus.

Four years later, after earning a degree in business management and thinking he would attend law school or work in the shipping industry, Higgins heard coaching call his name. In late 2006 he became head coach at the Norfolk Collegiate High School and followed that by taking an assistant coach position at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in New York for the 2007-08 season. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach.

“Once I started coaching at that level and working with high-achieving athletes, it became more and more of a draw,” Higgins said. “Being able to pass on what information I could and giving encouragement to others just kind of took hold. After less than a year, I knew this was for me.”

Following a decorated decade with the Monarchs where he coached 19 All-Americans and helped guide them to the national championships each year, the Green Wave elevated sailing to varsity status and needed a head coach. With the chance to return to his home region and start his own program, Higgins couldn’t say no.

“In this region, we didn’t have a lot of varsity sailing opportunities, and if you wanted to take sailing seriously you had to leave,” Higgins said. “To be able to provide that opportunity in this region was very intriguing to me and very important.”

Since taking the Tulane job, Higgins has been a busy man. Rarely at his desk, he has spent time recruiting, fundraising, getting to know the New Orleans sailing community and coaching the Tulane club team.

Twenty-six of the club team members have been added to the varsity roster, so Higgins spending time coaching them has been extremely valuable. Besides coaching them in practices, Higgins traveled with the group to Norfolk, Virginia – home of Old Dominion – for the sailing national championships in May.

The team did not win any national championships – very few club teams even make it out of the semifinal round – but the experience was extremely valuable for a team that hopes to be competing for national titles soon. During its time in Virginia, the team also went to Annapolis, Maryland, to scrimmage against squads from MIT, Rhode Island, Fordham and Navy among others.

“In order to get to the next level, you have to know what that level is,” Higgins said. “It was very important for us to get that experience with this group.”

The program will soon be reaching the next level when it comes to equipment and facilities. A brand new fleet of 18 LaserPerformance Z420 boats is currently being manufactured and will arrive in New Orleans next month. The new Z420s, which are now standard equipment at the national championships, will be lighter and faster than the current fleet, allowing the Green Wave to remain up to the standards of the nation’s top programs.

A boathouse is also being built for the team on Lake Ponchartrain. Currently, the team has been using the basement of the New Orleans Yacht Club as its home. The new fleet and facility will certainly allow Higgins and Tulane to shine when official visits for his next recruiting class begin.

“Right now we’re excited for what August brings in a new facility,” Higgins said. “It’s going to be great. In the next couple years, we’ll have a new boathouse, offices and classroom in addition to what we have here on campus.”

In time, Higgins hopes and expects to sail toe-to-toe with the nation’s best. Things may start slow when the team officially competes in its first regatta in September, but dedicated club student-athletes who love Tulane are excited to start a new program and propel the team forward.

“As long as they’re eager and willing to put forth the effort and learn, they’re going to be great,” Higgins said.