HPHS Grad Sails in Competitions Around the Globe

Now a freshman at Tulane, Kohl won multiple championships in St. Croix and Ireland

No matter where she’s lived, Lola Kohl has always been at home on the water — as long as she has the wind at her back.

Kohl, who graduated from Highland Park High School last spring, brings plenty of international experience to the sailing team at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she has made a valuable impact during her freshman season.

After all, she learned the sport in the U.S. Virgin Islands and refined her skills in Ireland, so navigating the collegiate level isn’t so intimidating.

Kohl’s father is an investment banker who loves the ocean. But her mother valued living near family back home. So, they compromised, and for the first decade or so of her life, they split time between the Park Cities and the Caribbean island of St. Croix.

“My dad wanted to try something new, and we ended up really liking it, so we stayed,” Kohl said. “And then we came back, because Dallas was our home.”

On the island, Kohl and her four brothers gravitated to the local yacht club. When she was 11, Kohl went to the world championships for the first time as the youngest competitor in the 29er skiff class.

“After a while, I just wanted to compete against (my brothers),” she said. “I got really competitive because I wanted to beat them.”

The family later relocated for several years to Cork, Ireland, which put Kohl and her siblings closer to the sport’s hotbeds in Spain and Italy. But this time, instead of treating one another as rivals, the Kohls decided to team up.

Given her petite frame, Kohl specializes as a skipper on lightweight, high-performance skiffs and dinghies, usually with only one crew member.

During several years in Europe, she became the country’s female national champion and overall national champion. Plus, her entire family has dual Irish citizenship.

“It was fun as Team Kohl when we were winning,” she said. “We decided after we won nationals that it’s best to not [continue], because we would get into too many fights. But I learned a lot over there. It was working out for everyone.”

Kohl had been sailing every day in Ireland, which jump-started the college recruiting process. So, when her family returned to the Park Cities for her entire senior year, she decided to cut back her travel and competition schedule.

She sailed in the C420 class during the fall season at Tulane, frequently entering regattas alongside powerhouse programs from the Northeast.

“Being on the American circuit is different,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed it. School is a break from sailing, and sailing is a break from school.”