Ottawa balloonist was a hit in Sanikiluaq

An Ottawa man who is planning to travel from Grise Fiord to the northwestern coast of Greenland by hot-air balloon practised his technique two years ago in Sanikiluaq.

John Davidson crossed a portion of Hudson Bay from Sanikiluaq to Kuujjuarapik in March 2000. The trip took about 14 hours, said Robert McLean, an Arctic College instructor in Sanikiluaq who knew Davidson in Ottawa.

The balloonist wanted to treat community residents to sky tours, McLean said, but the weather didn’t cooperate. Instead, he gave speeches at the local school.

An Ottawa Citizen story last week about Davidson’s Grise Fiord trip, planned for May 2003, erroneously stated that his first Arctic excursion was a bust. According to McLean, the balloonist landed about 70 miles off target, which he described as awfully good for a vehicle with no directional controls.

The take-off was a major event in Sanikiluaq, McLean said. The school shut down so people could watch the balloon fill up with hot air and take to the sky.

While Davidson said he wanted to return to the community the following year with a film crew and two balloons, McLean said he didn’t hear anything more about it.