We caught the leading edge of the Big Fat High and saw 20-25 knots from the south as planned. It was a thrilling ride and as the sun starting sinking lower we saw some very interesting cloud formations all around the horizon. Little did we know that many of those same clouds would turn ugly and become some very hairy squalls after the sun went down. We had been running with a single-reefed main and a poled out genoa with 'Vinny' our beloved Hydrovane steering almost the entire time. At dusk we made the mistake of under-estimating the squalls and neglected to put a second reef in the main. About 7pm the wind just blew up and a major squall, the Mother of All Squalls hit us hard from behind. Screaming wind and driving rain, the three of us sat in the cockpit and basically just held on. At one point I felt that the Hydrovane was becoming overwhelmed so I took over the steering, being careful not to backfill the main. Buena Vista handled the whole thing with ease, clocking 8 knots, 9 knots, and even hitting 10 knots of boat speed! Luckily we were able to almost completely roll in the genoa, leaving the spinnakker pole hooked up to it all night. We had strong winds all night, easing off in the early hours. Sleep was nearly impossible. There was too much boat movement and way too much noise. At one point I tried laying down on my bed in the aft stateroom and felt like I was getting lifted off the mattress every time a swell passed beneath us. It was a very exciting night and Buena Vista showed us again what a great boat she is. We're all kind of tired out today, eating and napping and getting ready for tonight. Oh yeah, for 24 hours we made 151 nautical miles, beating our previous record of 148. It was a night we won't soon forget.