Kangaroo Island – Swim across backstairs Passage a First!

In an amazing feat, Kangaroo Islands very own ocean swimmer Shane Sanigar completed his epic swim on the 13th of March 2022! Shane swam across the dangerous stretch of water known as Backstairs Passage, without a wetsuit, to raise money for Cancer.
This is the first time for a solo, non-stop, round-trip crossing of The Passage!
“It’s something I thought I could do,” he said. “It’s a challenge for me and I can raise some money for cancer by doing something different!”
Backstairs Passage is the infamous stretch of water between the Fleurieu Peninsula on the mainland and Kangaroo Island.
It was named by explorer Matthew Flinders after part of a courthouse. It measures 14km at its narrowest point.
No stranger to long-distance ocean swims, Shane successfully swam the 40km English Channel from his native England to France in July 2013.
The 38-year-old has since moved to Kangaroo Island and lives in Baudin Beach.
Shane wanted this to raise decided to donate the money raised from the swim to the Shane is again raising funds for the Cancer Council and its “Do It For Cancer” program. Australian Cancer Research Foundation and donations can be made to the Cancer Council here

MAN OF STEEL: Kangaroo Island long-distance, ocean swimmer Shane Sanigar picks up steel from Wayne Hall at the Kingscote M10 shop that donated the material for his shark cage.
Larry Turner from Emu Ridge Eucalyptus and Billy Turner from Kangaroo Island Boat Hire are both experienced seamen who donated their time to help Shane, Larry supplied his ex cray boat as the support boat that had a simple shark cage attached, and of course the very brave Shane who all left Penneshaw in the dark at 6am.
“We left at the crack of dawn, the day was amazing and the tides, wind etc all fell into place to allow me to get there and back in exactly 10 hours,” Shane said.
The swim back was heavily tide-assisted, pushing him home all the way to the beach Penneshaw.
This made it a round trip of 33 kilometres, almost the exact length of the English Channel, which he has also previously swum when living in the UK.
Shane then made the call to swim in a cage, with materials donated by the local Mitre10 and built by friends.
Then came the bushfire disaster and COVID further halting his swim attempt.
But this March long-weekend, all the conditions including the all-important tides, all lined up.
Plus he had secured the services of experienced locals Larry Turner from Emu Ridge Eucalyptus, his nephew Bill Turner and his large 38-foot former crayfish boat.
Their experience and vessel gave him the confidence to do all the final training, including a seven-hour “warm-up” swim.

“Massive thanks to both Bill and Larry Turner who took me (across), I couldn’t of done it without them, they made the day pass without any issues,” Shane said.
“Another shout out to Luke Green and Dave Clarke who helped build the cage, along with Greg Watkins for his continued support through the last few years in trying to make this happen.”
Bill, who operates Kangaroo Island Boat Hire, said it was a massive effort and Shane even went the extra distance adding a few kilometres back to Pennshaw instead of the shortest point at Cuttlefish Bay.
For the record, there were no sharks this time, just seven or eight dolphins.
Shane has always done this to raise awareness to raise funds for the Cancer Council and its “Do It For Cancer” program.
Great job boys and of course Shane! It’s not too late to donate at https://www.doitforcancer.com.au/fundraisers/shanesanigar/backstairs-passage-2-way-swim