‘If you are the PA to one of the greatest dancers in history, it makes sense to take a class – I mean how hard can ballet be? Brutal is the short answer…’ A young Blue with his boss Rudolf Nureyev. Genius makes its own rules, and Blue was always trying to bring some calm to the volcanic Nureyev temper. Blue still works with HNWI’s, training household staff and writing their biographies/memoirs – most not to be published, but for their families. Not bad for a Finn sailor from Jersey. That tiny lump of granite in the English Channel has turned out some good ‘uns...’
interrupt them? Are you trying to let them know that you know more than they do? If so, why are they there? Are you correcting them? Are you trying to sound important? Let them talk! Let them get flowing and
allow the person to elaborate on their story or they will feel blocked every time they open their mouth, and they will rapidly shut down. This of course becomes even more important when you are treading on deli- cate ground. Shock losses in big events hurt the athlete. Dismastings or gear fail- ure in a big campaign hurt the entire team, and if you are thinking of writing about tragic events, then be very, very, careful. I have spoken with fellow Sword Of
Orion crew members of Glyn Charles after the Hobart race in 1998, key friends of Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson after the Artemis capsize in San Francisco, and Volvo crew from ABN Amro Two, 11th Hour Racing and Scallywag. Tough subjects need plenty of negotiation beforehand; and a great deal of knowing which direction you are taking as the conversation unfolds. Another quite subtle form of respect
here is that I always record every interview with two devices. Often athletes ask me why am I using two? My answer is always the same, ‘because what you are about to say is so valuable, that I use two devices just in case one fails.’ To have an Olympic medalist complement me on my prepara- tion is a heck of a start to an interview. Questions. Long before I talk with someone or ask them questions, I think about what I am going to say and write these questions down. This means three days before any media conference I have at least five questions written down to ask the athletes up on the stage. These questions may evolve, but three
days out I generally know what the weather conditions will be, and knowing it is a light or breezy event means I can for- mulate questions about the key pressure points, like mark rounding, overtaking lanes or tight starts. If you are thinking about being part of
the media conference and you can’t think of five questions, then you simply aren’t trying hard enough. I have sat at press con- ferences and cringed at some of the ques- tions asked. You have some of the finest sailors on the planet in front of you – Olympic, America’s Cup and round the world campaigners, who work brutally hard to hone and re-hone their skills – so
please challenge them. Give them a ques- tion they can answer and elaborate on, involving someone in their sailing or shore team that they can talk about. Another absolute here is that if you
have sat and interviewed someone, or stood and spoken with them in a mixed media area... thank them. I don’t mean a quick, ‘Thanks!’ As you head off to lunch, I mean a proper, meaningful thank you. Here is how I do it. I stop the recorder, pause for a second
so that it is clear we are done, I look at them in the face and thank them twice. Why twice? Because that way I know the message will get through. Then I will say something like, ‘Thank you very much for all your time today. I really appreciate your help covering this, it has been really interesting – and so thank you very much for your time, it is really appreciated.’ They will probably be moving away
from me by then, grabbing their bag to head back to the team or chat with their coach or head to a much needed hot shower or some food. But the last thing they focus on from that interaction with me is that I am appreciative of their efforts. And that impression lasts. Sometimes for years. As they say in the big leagues, make your last impression a lasting impression. I spoke recently with Australian Sailing
team coach Michael Blackburn about trust, and he summed it up beautifully, with the phrase, ‘The coach needs to build trust slowly, and that happens one moment at a time.’ This also fully applies to the relationship which athletes form with the media, and I am very aware of building this process up. There was a very interesting and unex-
pected test of this at the 2011 World Championships in Perth, where Ben Ainslie had a shocker, when he reacted badly to an extremely close camera boat overtaking him on the final leg of the race course in the Finn Gold Cup. I was stand- ing in a media boat anchored just off the finishing line watching all this drama unfold. Both the trigger for the incident and Ben’s reaction were simply jaw drop- ping, and so when Ben was disqualified from race 9 and 10, I sought him out and asked him for an interview... Now clearly this is delicate ground, but
if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Proof of this was two days earlier, when I asked Ainslie if it were possible to accompany his coach Dave ‘Sid’ Howlett out on his
slender coach boat, to view the Finn racing and the interaction between coach and athlete in between races. I was fully prepared for a polite no, and
so I was quite surprised to get an ‘Ok Blue, as long as you stay very quiet in the boat.’ Always ask politely – and sure, when you ask the question you will often get a no, but you may also get the offer of some- thing else if they cannot accommodate your first request. And so late on that Sunday afternoon
Ben was well away from the crowds, pack- ing his Finn Rita into a container as the fleet were fighting it out in the Medal Race. The enormity of what had just hap- pened, and the uncertainty of what a gross misconduct ruling could mean just months out from his final Olympics in London was settling on him and his coach. Ben saw me walking towards him and
lifted his head, nodding once in recogni- tion. I asked him if it were possible to interview him for a Seahorse piece – know- ing full well it was absolutely the last thing he wanted to do right then. But he stared at me for three seconds and said, ‘Sure…’ Trust. Build it up, work very, very hard
on what you are writing so that everyone wins. The athlete, the team, the sponsor, the event... all get a positive outcome from the story, which is only fair after they have all invested so much. I’m not saying sugar- coat it, the truth about all high perfor- mance sailing is that it is brutally tough on the athlete’s mind and body. In Australia we call that ‘Hard Yakka’, and there is always plenty of hard yakka to unpick and cover in a positive way.
So to recap, the keys are: l Get an idea and do the background stuff – research is seldom wasted. l Write down then ask key questions which will provoke interesting and intelligent responses. l Be polite but ask... what is the worst that can happen? l Use two recording devices. What you have is way too valuable to lose. l Get the story early and work on it hard, editing it every day until deadline. l Make it a key part of the process that you take the time to thank people. l Make it positive. Every story must reflect positive elements that you witnessed. As I said, the process is simple, not easy. Blue
q SEAHORSE 21
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