The Great Canoe Race
Mystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
It was a gorgeous summer's day on the scenic shores of Honeymoon Lake in Ontario Canada. Mr. Od-1 had just bought a new $300 canoe and took it to his yacht club to go for a paddle around the bay. As he was paddling around he was nearly run over by Bob, one of his employees, who had just bought a new 58 ft twin engine Sea Ray Sun Sport.
"Hey, sorry about that Boss but I didn't see you in that little dinghy. You really should spend some of your millions and upgrade a little. I got this boat for a steal at only $7,500,000."
Mr. Od-1 smiled as he looked up at the luxury speedboat and laughed. "Ya, nice, but you couldn't beat me in a race across the bay with that thing."
"Good joke Sir," replied Bob.
"I'm not joking. If you win I'll give you 4 extra weeks of vacation, but if I win I get your boat for 4 weeks."
Bob thought for a moment and said, "You with your canoe and me with my boat, I know you're up to something but I figure it's worth a shot to have 8 weeks of time off."
"Good," exclaimed Mr.Od-1 and asked the man to take out his PDA. He announced the date, causing Bob to grimace.
Both men and a large crowd of onlookers showed up on the appointed date to see the spectacle. Mr.Od-1 beat Bob fairly easily without cheating or even breaking a sweat. Mr.Od-1 smiled as he marched victoriously back to the clubhouse with his canoe.
How did Od-1 beat a luxury speedboat with a $300 canoe?
HintThe boats were not sailed in the normal way.
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Answer
Mr.Od-1 normally wasn't one to bet but the odds where greatly in his favor as he had picked Feb 15th for the race, a time when for as long as he could remember the lake had been already frozen over for 2 months. Mr.Od-1 picked up his canoe and simply walked across the lake. Bob on the other hand tried desperately to pull the large boat and trailer across but to no avail.
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Comments
(user deleted)
Mar 08, 2004
| What's that saying about never taking a bet when it seems like a sure thing?  Fun teaser! |
(user deleted)
Mar 08, 2004
| That was a good teaser!! It was funny too.  |
bluetwo 
Mar 08, 2004
| i thought Mr. Od-1 was thinking about the sand bar that would have prevented his employee from making it to the opposite shore. i like your solution. |
toast9897  
Mar 08, 2004
| ha! u make funny! good teaser |
griphook 
Mar 08, 2004
| Great Teaser... But a little closer to a Trick T OD  |
doggyxp
Mar 22, 2004
| Nice one. |
sockpuppet_frien
May 16, 2004
| great teaser..i though maybe the boss scheduled the race for a day on which bob had to work and then he could race! i liked ur answer better! |
I_am_the_Omega 
Oct 17, 2004
| Do you honestly think the employee would ever try to sail on ice? This teacher is just cheap... |
CowboyRider
Nov 29, 2004
| Ha! I got that one! February gave it away, especially here in Canada . Nice teaser! |
Therulerofthem
Dec 24, 2004
| what happened to a gorgeous summer day |
alicewashere13
Jan 03, 2005
| not enough info.....  |
dbeattie
Mar 06, 2005
| I thought that once he announced the race the lake would be so congested with onlookers on their boats that Mr. OD-1 would just shimmy in and out of the traffic. Never thought of the date being in February! Nice one! |
ane92590
May 29, 2005
| canada doesnt have summer in february....but good one nonetheless |
Jeepcouple
Jun 17, 2005
| I too thought the lake would be too congested for the big boat to get through it whereas the canoe could shimmy trhough the congestion. And I think you should mention the date he picked so that there's not as many other possibilities. |
brainfog
Jun 19, 2005
| You say that the boss belongs to a yacht club, and I assumed a member must have a real boat, not just a canoe. Sooo, I thought the boss just used his normal boat in the race, because it didn't say anything about him racing in the canoe. His boat would probably be better than Bob's because he's got more money to spend.
Obviously, I didn't get your answer!  |
sweetypie
Jun 23, 2005
| totally got lost. didnt even think of the FEBURARY clue.  but it was fun anyways |
GoHarryPotterCS
Oct 16, 2005
| there was not enough information for some but for others it was plenty. Maybe if you dded just a bit more info, it'd be a good all round joke!
p.s. try out my website: www.freewebs.com/americandancer2005webbie/ to learn more about tamagotchis! |
AZTTT
Oct 20, 2005
| Good one! I got it once I noticed the location. |
rkaaland
Nov 14, 2005
| Gosh I love these so many different answers- I missed the Feb thing but thought that he just hooked his canoe to the big boat and was able to unhook and get closer to shore where he would be the first across the lake!!!  |
mario128
Dec 18, 2005
| you know, it could have been that the lake was too shallow for a luxury boat to go across, but just fine for a canoe
by the way, you spelled "were" wrong in the answer |
(user deleted)
Jan 18, 2006
| I thoght that the boss picked a day when bob had to work |
OldChinaHand
May 26, 2006
| Good one. |
kcheer2493
May 31, 2006
| Good, i guess, but what happened to the gorgeous summer day? Can someone please explain? |
cyberstar5150
Jun 29, 2006
| Nice teaser! Can anyone else imagine being in Bob's shoes and this happening? I'd certainly be ticked off... |
poisonivy9494
Sep 27, 2006
| uh hello...it cant be in feburary with the lake frozen because it said in the beginning that it was a gorgeous SUMMERS day 
u could do better  |
scallio
Sep 12, 2007
| A mystery requires the clues to be available in the text of the story... this failed.
1. Beginning of story explains it is a "gorgeous summer day" in Canada. That means summer and hot.
2. The bet did not include the boss getting to determine the day the race should take place.
3. The story never mentions that 6 months pass before the race takes place. The impression is that perhaps days or weeks pass.
If the boss chose a date in February for the race, the employee should have asked for a date in a week's time instead.
The story should have done one of two things:
Either state clearly that the boss gets to choose the date of the race- any day of the year...
OR
State that the boss selected a date some months in the future (and that perhaps that was bewildering to the employee).
Sorry... don't want to be negative because I appreciate the effort, but I felt this wasn't a valid mystery.
Love all the other mysteries you've written! (At least those I've read!)
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friesaregood
Nov 30, 2007
| It never said the date! How were we supposed to get that one?  |
luckypuppy
Dec 06, 2007
| not sure what the problem is, the teaser clearly states that the date was announced, implying that it would not take place that same day.... i liked it |
therealerik 
Sep 01, 2008
| The reaction of Bob when the date was announced gave away the answer. It was clear he knew he was in trouble as soon as the date was announced. The next thing was that Mr Od-1 walked back, which gave me the idea that he might have walked across the lake (even if it does not have to be: he could have walked around it, or canoed back and walked the last bit to the club house). Only at the very end I noticed the location (here in Holland we don't see many frozen lakes these last decades).
In general I liked it though it was quite easy. |
yangjun
Nov 10, 2008
| I think there can be other answers like he and bob can have a race down a river with some slopes so it is going to be hard for a boat to do it as everyone know about canoning sports |
skylouis
Nov 13, 2009
| great riddle! keep em' comin'! |
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