friggin old guy wrote: it's crazy sometimes how many people there can be at Alameda and nobody will jump up to land an incoming kite. Even if you have the skills to self-land, the place is just not big enough for people to self land without the possibility of a problem if the kite skitzes just a little bit.
Something for everyone to keep in mind: there is a phenomenon called "diffusion of responsibility" which says that the more bystanders there are lingering around, the *less* likely you are to get assistance, because everyone thinks someone else will do it.
"It has been demonstrated that the likelihood of a person offering help decreases as the number of observers present increases. This is known as the bystander effect."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_ ... onsibility
And in our specific situation of a crowded launch/land zone, it's probably made even worse because 1) people are anxious to get going and are focused on setting up their gear, and 2) nobody is that enthusiastic about having a kite land on top of them, causing further delay.
I would have to say that I've never been there on a day when landing with your feet on the berm would not put you in the wind shadow
I keep seeing people mention "the wind shadow ... behind the shack." Is this really a wind shadow? I think of "wind shadow" as usually a *good* thing. I sometimes self-land at the Racetrack behind some small hills which create a wind shadow---it causes the kite to gently plop down and fall over on its side. And where is "behind the shack" exactly? Is it literally the area outside the wall opposite the front entrance of the shack? Or does it really mean "downwind of the shack," in which case it's most likely partly in the LZ and partly in the grassy area across the path?
Anyway, to your point: I climbed up the berm at the pointy tip of the LZ (across from the park bench). I'm pretty sure kites launch from this area, or even further towards the shack, regularly. So I don't see why landing would be a problem.