They are little tabs that stick out about 1" or so behind the edge of
the fluke at the shoulder or widest part of the fluke to prevent the
corner from digging in. Prior to about 2001 Spades didn't have these.
When it first lands the Spade rest on this corner and the tip. Without
the winglets the corner would start digging in first effectively raising
the tip so that it could not dig in. The problem was discovered by
Practical Sailor in an early test and Spade modified the design. Now
the corner slides over the bottom and the slight concave edge forces
most of the pressure onto the tip.

Tamaroak wrote:
We used the Spade A-80 in Alaska exclusively for seven weeks last year,
anchoring in all kinds of wierd muck/shale/shells/clay. We were having
quite a time of it at first until a nosey Brit with binoculars across a
bay with nothing else to do asked us to just try throwing it out and
letting it find its own way into the stuff. We tried that and from that
day on just threw the damn thing overboard, set the anchor watch on the
GPS and went to bed. We never dragged once, even in high winds and when
we would be holding on a slant and the tide would be pulling us in and
out. We were impressed.

What's this tab thing? Do they retrofit?

Capt. Jeff


--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com