New York Mourns The Death Of One Of Its Most Talented Surf Photographers and Creatives

It’s with heavy hearts we learned this morning of the death of one of New York’s true originals, surfer, photographer, and all around creative Andrew Blauschild. 

The proud recipient of a recent career-spanning profile in The Surfer’s Journal, Andrew was born in the Bronx in 1971, a sixth generation New Yorker. In the early-2000’s, Blauschild and longtime friend and perennial NYC and East End visitor Joel Tudor started Kookbox, a surf brand built around craftsmanship in boardbuilding, with handshapes by guys like Bill Shrosbee, Stu Kenson, Hoy Runnels, and others, as well as a broad range of apparel. 

“Kookbox is a collaboration brand of surfers, great craftsman, and artist/ photographers,” he told Whalebone. “We produce classically-made surfboards with some of the best shapers and glassers in the industry. It’s a rewarding labor of love to build custom surfboards for surfers all over the world.”

Recent Montauk resident and favorite subject of Blauchild, Pat Schmidt, provided the following on his Instagram. 

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“The connection I got to form with Andrew since moving to the east end is unexplainable,” Pat writes. “We always felt in sync. I felt like if he was on the beach I could surf a certain way that worked well with the way he wanted to capture images of surfing. I could see where he was moving on the rocks, know right away the shot he was trying to get and adjust my position accordingly. I’ve never had that before. I’ve never even wanted that before, but with Andrew it was different.

“I’m such a fan of his work that I wanted to do whatever I could to be a part of it. We had five days in a row earlier this summer that we passed each other on Nappegue Meadow in the same exact spot, both with middle fingers held high followed by a phone call cracking up about it that would end up lasting hours. I will miss those times but am so grateful to experience them. Love you Andrew, thanks for taking me under your wing.”

Andrew is reported to have suffered from a cardiac event — no further information is currently available.