@yngmar A luxury indeed. Having to dodge others in big gusts sounds awful, thankfully, we were alone.
This is the first time we've had to bail from an anchorage. It's reassuring that we could get the anchor up, I wasn't sure we could do it in big weather.
But yea, retrieving an anchor this way is definitely not kind to the body. A windlass makes it easier(unless it fails, of course).