does the TI dagger/centerboard lock down

I am considering a TI to sail the shallow waters near me. What happens in the even of an unintentional grounding? does the board lock down (as in damage will occur if you ground without raising) or will it swing up? How far does it stick down below the boat?

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2015 Outback- dune with sail kit
2015 TI- dune- sold
2015 AI2- Hibiscus- should probably sell...
2018 AI2- Dune

Actually on TI's most of us use the center board as a bottom feeler. It does lock down with a catch, but the catch is easily released by the bottom (I think about 2.5 to 3ft underwater, way deeper than the mirage drives and rudder). Most of us when we suspect we are coming into shallow water we lay our elbow on the lever, if it starts coming up we know we are dragging the bottom and need to start shallow pedaling and maybe release the rudder lockdown (or at least be ready to unlock the rudder). Actually I found when in really shallow water even with the rudder up you can do some steering (the rudder housing is below water), you can also partially raise the rudder so a small portion of the blade is still underwater, and you can steer and shallow pedal over the shallow area ( I do it often). Having the entire rudder in the water pointing straight back also works but boy is it hard to steer that way, the trick is to raise and lock the rudder up so only 1/3 of the blade is submerged.
Hope this helps
FE

+1 with fusioneng, I sail the skinny waters of NC all the time. The center board is my depth feeler as it rubs before anything else on the 2015 TI. When I feel the knob of the center board wiggle I know it's time to shallow pedal and raise the rudder. In our waters you never know when the shallows will pay you a visit. I've learned that the grave yard of the atlantic is not just a slogan here but a way of life.

perfect. The water here is treacherous, being rock bottom. You can also find rock above the surface 2-3 miles out so it pops up out of nowhere!

I would still like to test one out, and will be in touch about that but I think we have pretty much decided that we want a TI. Hopefully we will be able to more forward in the next 4-5 months but we will see. Not ready to sell my C22 just yet since I just rebuilt the entire thing (literally had the deck cut out of it) so this will just be another addition to the flotilla...

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2015 Outback- dune with sail kit
2015 TI- dune- sold
2015 AI2- Hibiscus- should probably sell...
2018 AI2- Dune

We are currently sailing our TI down the coast of North Carolina (following a sound side route down the back of the Outer Banks). Depths on the charts are meaningless and shoaling is pretty much everywhere. Luckily the bottom is mostly soft sand or muck (except for the floating nets and crab pots). As others have said the centerboard is a great "depth sounder" and the rudder is sort of functional when not fully deployed. You can also steer from the rear with a paddle but that is easier said than done in some conditions.

Do be careful of the Mirage drives. In a hurried attempt to escape breaking waves I forgot to remove the rear Mirage drive (the fins were luckily up against the hull) when we were manually hauling the boat up onto a cement boat ramp. The drive survived but took a couple of hits between the boat and the ramp when large waves heaved the boat up and down. Needless to say that was an exciting few minutes but all ended-up ok.

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Cheers,
Chris

For this reason is why whenever we are anywhere near shore we always hook the bungy onto one of the pedals. You can still pedal the mirage drive just fine with the bungy on, when you take your foot off the pedals they fold up harmlessly against the hull. Yes the sides of our mirage drives are scratched up a bit from shoring, but everything still works on my original 2012 drives with the original fins and shafts (I can't begin to estimate how many pedaling miles we have on those darn mirage drives). Mirage drives in my opinion are more durable than most give them credit for IMO.
FE