Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria
About Edi Hans Pawlata
- Hans W Pawlata, known as "Edi", was an Austrian pioneer of the sport of kayaking; who in 1927, claimed to be the first European to perform a Kayak roll, a skill developed by the Eskimo people.
- In fact, a number of other Europeans had already learned to roll a kayak, but Pawlata is widely credited with the feat. Born 19 February 1900 in Vienna, Pawlata had a passion for paddling the faltbooten or folding kayaks that were popular in Europe after World War I.
- He studied written accounts of the kayaks and skills of the Greenland Inuit people, especially the work of Knud Rasmussen, Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen.
- From his research, he designed a folding kayak which he believed was "purebred" and more faithful to the original Arctic boats.
- The 4.9 metre long kayak was built for him by the firm of Otto Hartel in Graz, and he called it "Aijuk".
- On 30 July 1927, on the Weissensee, he publicly demonstrated his ability to capsize his kayak and right it again without leaving the cockpit.
- The method he devised, which involved gripping the far end of the paddle blade, is now known as the Pawlata roll and is still used as a training or sea kayaking technique.
- In the following year, he published a book called "Kipp kipp hurra! Im reinrassigen Kajak.
- Eine ausführliche Anleitung zum Sichwiederaufrichten im Kajak (Faltboot)" ("Tip tip hooray! In a purebred kayak.
- A detailed manual for righting oneself in a kayak (folding kayak)") In it he says: "Quite contrary to the expectations of the old experienced paddler, on 30 July 1927, I succeeded as the first European sportsman to right himself again after capsizing in a kayak.
- Thus was the curse of the centuries-old Eskimo secret broken and kayaking ceased to exist in name only."Actually, a number of European missionaries and explorers had previously learned how to roll from the Inuit people of Greenland, Paul Egede probably being the first in the 1730s.
- Rolling was demonstrated in 1889 at Sandviken, Norway by Oluf Dietrichson, a member of Nansen's 1888 Greenland expedition.Pawlata died in Vienna on 13 December 1966.
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