Surfboard Heaven

Vacations are all about down time and relaxing but in Maui it’s hard to put away your camera. One evening I went to pick up some food in the  town of Haiku and ran across this unusual fence made entirely of surfboards. The fence looks like a cross between Stonehendge and the Cadillac Ranch. It was a row of colorful surfboards pointing straight into the air for as long as the eye can see.

Surprising discoveries are what makes vacations fun. When you travel to Maui you should expect a few magic moments.  This was one. It was late in the day and the boards were glowing amber in the Hawaiian sunset.

I hopped out of the car and started taking some pictures. Eventually, I walked down the driveway and towards the main house to get some information about the fence. Because the location was a little farm in an isolated section of Maui I wasn’t sure if I was going to be greeted with a shotgun or handshake.

That’s when I met Brian. He was house sitting for the owner and greeted me with a big smile. He said lots of people stop by for a visit. He told me the fence was made by Donald Dettloff about 20 years ago. He had a couple of old boards he wanted to get rid of but didn’t want to put them in the landfill. Other surfers saw the small fence and started leaving their boards on his driveway so the fence grew. It now contains over 800 surfboards. It’s the largest surfboard fence in the world.

To my surprise very few stories have ever been published about this fence. On my return to California I sent a set of my pictures to some friends at USA Today. They loved the pictures. They agreed to post them in their travel section on-line. Here is the link to the USA Today gallery, http://www.usatoday.com/media/cinematic/gallery/1605591 Also, there are pictures posted on my website, www.stevelabadessa.com