Minecraft wiki entry for Boat, associated text: A player cannot both move (row) and use items at the same time. It is still possible to initialize an item use (e.g. start eating) and row the boat while the item is still in the middle of the use animation. Although the boating animation overrides the item use animation, the item can still be successfully consumed. This does not work with items that are triggered by the release of the use button (e.g. bow, trident).‌[Java Edition only]