It was a gorgeous summer’s day on the scenic shores of Honeymoon Lake in Ontario Canada. Mr. Ode 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. Ode smiled as he looked up at the luxury speedboat and laughed. “Yes, 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. Ode 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. Ode beat Bob fairly easily without cheating or even breaking a sweat. Mr. Ode smiled as he marched victoriously back to the clubhouse with his canoe.
How did Ode beat a luxury speedboat with a $300 canoe?
Solution
Mr. Ode normally wasn’t the one to bet but the odds were greatly in his favour 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. Ode picked his up 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.
