http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/offshore-reports-southern-california-usa/112995-senor-hefe.html
At 3:30am the boat Senor Hefe was heading south towards the 295 bank which is located about 62 miles off San Diego. The ride down was nice and calm as we headed with about 30 other sport-fishing boats for a jump on the early bite. On the way down we were going about 12 kt/hr and would arrive exactly on top of the 295 at 5:10 am. That was all about to change when out of my peripheral vision I see a piece of a metal poll lodged out of the water and I hear a sudden bang hit the hull of the boat. First thing comes to mind that we hit some sort of skiff or weather buoy. After the bang the starboard engine stalls. Everyone is on their feet with in seconds to see what exactly happened. As we turn on the floodlights we cannot believe what we are looking at. Three hundred and sixty degrees of PVC pipe and mesh net around the boat. Did we just…. Yes we jumped a plastic pipe at 12 knots. After assessing what the hell is going on we check all panel lights, one bilge pump is on. One of the crewmembers jumped into the engine room to check for water leaks the shafts and the through whole fittings. Everything seemed to be all right and the boat was safe from sinking. Next thing we know is we are in a tuna pen being towed at 3 kts. At that time we look off the fly bridge and see approximately a 100-foot persaner in front of us at a distance of 200 meters from the tuna pen. Next thing we notice is the lighting on the pen. The pen seemed improperly illuminated. The boat that was towing the pen was also improperly illuminated according to “rules of the road”. We get on the radio and hail on channel 16. We get no response after hailing about 8 times in 5 mins. Then a crew member grabs a spot light and flashes the saner. That’s we finally got a response. We see 2-3 Avon’s with a mexican crew of 2 on each boat approaching our position. We all calm down a little as we wait for the Avon’s to approach the boat. As they arrived the started