The bug
Boats move faster on ice than in water. They are also somewhat harder to steer, seeing as how the ice is making the boat slide.
Code analysis
Code analysis by @unknown can be found in this comment.
Linked issues
is duplicated by 7
relates to 3
Attachments
Comments 80
It's in the game since Pre-1, work on ice, packed ice if you have a 2 block large path.
You can reach up to 150 bps ...
Here's a french video demonstrating the bug : https://youtu.be/xLekF6nDMbA
can confirm
Is this still an issue in Minecraft 1.9 pre 3?
Can we...keep this? Or make this bug into a feature, like a sled for ice and snow? This bug is pretty great.
do people even want mojang to fix this? i mean... it's a great feature...

Confirmed as intended in the official livestream on 14/02/2019
@unknown That would be very great news!
However, an official statement by someone like e.g. Mr. Bergensten may be imo needed to be very sure about it, unless the person in the stream said this statement came straight of someone making final decisions for Java MC.
Maybe the Mojira mods could ask the Java Devs to resolve this bugpost here by linking to the Livestream video, or the Devs could ask this question in one of their internal meetings.
Please see the previous comments on this subject. If this is intended behaviour a Java Dev can come along and close this issue. Anything else is hearsay.

Yes, our policy is to wait for a dev to change it. We already poked them
Can confirm.