Because it's the beach and there might be wind damage, I can understand why people choose vinyl (even though I agree, ughh!) -- it's more durable, I would imagine. If you already have a fence up and are just looking to improve its look, I suggest looking into a surface covering instead of spending all this money on a fence that will just get damaged.

FenceFabric.com is the only one I really know anything about. It has wood designs that imitate perfectly the effect I think you're trying to get. They also have stone walls, ivy and flower hedges and whatnot, so you have a lot more options. I hope this helped some!