Training
2. Pass the swimmer test: this gates the other eight requirements
Required Often forgotten
The Scouting America swimmer test, which lives in the Swimming merit badge pamphlet. Its own sentence puts it in front of requirements 3 through 9, classroom parts included.
Notes and warnings
Warning. This one sentence stands in front of eight of the nine requirements, including requirements 3, 4, 5 and 6, which are classroom work and never get you wet. Requirement 1 is the only part of this badge you can work on before you pass it. Book the swim test early.
Note. The test itself is not printed on the canoeing page; it belongs to the Swimming merit badge and is set out in that pamphlet. In outline it is a 100-yard swim completed in one go, on strokes of your choosing, with a sharp turn in it and a rest float at the end: go and read it properly rather than working from that summary.
Where this step comes from
- Canoeing Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-31), Requirement 2 · States the gate in its own words (before doing the requirements that follow, complete the Scouting America swimmer test), and refers the reader to the Swimming merit badge pamphlet for what the test is. "The requirements that follow" is requirements 3 through 9, which is why requirement 1 is drawn outside the gate.