When my B323 was spankin' new, I redid the lifelines- pulpit to the aft gate stanchion (by the winches). Even my OEM 110% jib lays on the upper lifeline
In spite of the double LL gates on both sides of the cockpit, I have to dock bow-in, so needed bow gates. SO, you might do what I did and install pelican hooks on the front of the lifelines, both upper and lower. You can swing the LL down to the toe rail, but the entire LL will droop. I cut the LL at the first stanchion and added a coupler there. Actually, if you cut the OEM line, reverse the bow piece and use the pulpit end to connect to the stanchion end, you'll just have to add a pelican hook to the pulpit end.
I still have the OEM LL if anyone needs them. When I planned this out to replace all the lifelines, I bought the big crimping tool and saved enough in labor costs to pay for it. Also stripped the white cover off.
Before I did the LL work, of the upper LLs, one was between the mast shrouds, the other was not. I was "Sailing a Crooked Ship". I noticed the 4 vertical stanchions were leaning outwards, beyond the toerail. I raft with other club boats frequently, and the other boats hit the stanchions and was unacceptable. Not to mention hitting the pilings at the slip. I took the forward PORT ST, moved it to starboard and reinstalled it 180 degrees off, so it leaned INWARD. Checked for vertical from the base and measured how much it had to be bent to be above the toe rail-or a little more inboard. (Of the 4 stanchions, 3 were of differing degrees off.) This same stanchion can be moved to other locations, then have them all bent as needed. Me, I had the first one bent (2.5 to 3 inches?), tried it back in the PORT base for proper bend. GOOD! Then moved it to the aft STBD and PORT for correctness and bend if needed. The results were great. The cost was (IIRC) $165. I took my time getting it done- maybe a week. This meant the KATO shop had to reset the bender to hold the OEM bottom 4 or 5 inches while the rest was bent.
All-in-all, this was a multi-faceted job, but might as well do the stanchions before re-doing the LL.
REP, s/v TERI LYN III, 5-30-2018