It was standard on all the Caps I've ever seen in the US.

I actually have now bypassed it, instead passing the halyard through the spreader and adjuster arm. With the stock-single line halyard for the head and tack of the spinnaker, you have to use the loop and run up the front of the mast, but with a separate tack line, it is cleaner to do without. The spreaders are great, too, in that they don't have any pinching corners - a 3.8mm halyard passes very cleanly through in a straight line from the bale to the cleat on the starboard side of the mast.