I have the bale on my 20, never given me any trouble. I think converting to the line is a little neater/cleaner but I haven't seen any abrasion at that point. My halyards wear out from chaffing at the cleat way before the bail can do damage. Laziness and having to fill holes in the mast keep me from changing over.

I used your photo and edited it to look like how mine is run. the red is the vectran/spectra the green is cover added to resist chaffe and the black blob is the block.


After looking at your attachment, I do have mine run differently. I have a legnth of high-mod line spliced through the cheek block that comes don the mast and terminates on a block just below the bail. I added an piece of sacrificial cover that guards the line at the bale. So I guess my setup is sort of hybrid the block runs just below the bale and the spin halyard turns through the block.