@rek ha when I started sailing I had no idea how you were supposed to pull up the anchor. No windlass on the boat so I just sat down and pulled hard. I only have 30ft of chain so maybe it's easier. The last few feet can be tough.
I guess most people probably have a windlass :)
@mrj we pull it up by hand most times, but the cockpit winch method is good when anchoring in deeper waters, or to deal with the last few feet, as you mentioned. Sometimes its damn hard to break an anchor out of thick mud/clay (sometimes its piled up on the fluke and adds a ton of weight).
We have 100 ft of chain, and the anchor is 33 lbs.