That's your hand-hold loop, to give you something else to grab and pull up with, besides the mast or crossbar. I guess you could just grab the wire, but the loop keeps the lateral force off the eye-strap bolts (plus I wanted to shorten the line a bit).

After Wednesday night racing, I just stopped in the middle of the lake, jumped in the water and played around with the ropes till I found a combination that worked.