Not strange...this routine is a fixture of harbor/inshore navigation of large ships

When I was in CCF (combined cadet force) at school, I was in the Naval section. This was cool -- less marching and shouting than the army branch, and we got to play with boats a couple of times a year. Usually this meant sailing in Dover harbour.

Anyway, one trip we went on was to the Pilot station near Southampton. Bear in mind that this is the English channel -- one of the busiest (if not the busiest) shipping channels in the world. Anyway, while we were there, we went out for the day on one of the Pilot boats. These boats are used to deliver the pilot from the port to the ship that requested one. They're great little boats -- they can do 20 knots in fairly choppy weather.

The best part -- I got to drive one. At 20 knots. In choppy weather. Sweet.

In fact, while we were out messing about in the boat we got a call to collect a pilot for taking out to a ship in the channel. The cadet at the wheel got to drive all the way back to the harbour to pick up the pilot, and one of the other cadets drove all the way back to the ship to deliver the pilot. Cool.