Hi Larry,

I think Jon said it's a block with a becket attached to the crane; so while it's true that each of the parts of the halyard are half-load, both parts are supported by the crane and therefore the crane has the same load as a single part halyard. Jon could reduce the load on the crane by half if the halyard was dead-ended to the mast itself rather than dead-ended at the crane.

That said, as cruiserjim suggests, the becket should be strong enough to support a knockdown so it is probably strong enough for the use Jon describes.

Perhaps I'm mis interpreting the layout, but I think my comments are accurate.

Best regards,

Max