To leave a dock under power, read the wind and current at the berth first — that reading decides your whole plan, not a fixed routine. Brief your crew, then single up: down to one line at the bow and one at the stern, everything else already let go and coiled aboard. If wind or current is pushing you off the dock, the easy case is exactly that easy — let the lines go, fend the bow off lightly, and drift clear before you engage ahead. If it's pinning you on instead, an after bow spring holds the bow while gentle idle-ahead power and the helm turned toward the dock swing the stern out and clear. Either way, look astern before you shift into reverse, and bring every line aboard coiled rather than leaving it on the dock.
Leaving a dock under power — undocking, in the traditional term — looks simple right up until the wind decides otherwise. Most departures really are that simple: read the conditions, let the last lines go, and drift away with the engine barely working at all. The one moment that actually calls for a trick is when wind or current has you pinned against the dock instead of drifting free of it — a straight pull against that kind of wind won't get you clear on its own, no matter how much throttle you give it. This guide walks through both cases in order, plus the line discipline and look-astern habit that make either one go smoothly from the first line let go to the moment you're clear.
Read the Wind and Current, Then Single Up
Before anyone touches a line, check the wind and current at the berth. Their direction and strength decide which of the two departure plans below actually applies — not a fixed routine you run the same way every time. Brief your crew on what's about to happen: who handles which line, and what happens once it's time to leave.
Once that plan is set, single up: reduce every dock line to just one at the bow and one at the stern, with everything else already let go and coiled aboard. That's the standard preparation immediately before getting under way, and it leaves you holding only what you actually need to control the boat for whichever case comes next — nothing extra to track once the helm starts calling for lines.
When the Wind Is Pushing You Off the Dock
If wind or current is already pushing the boat away from the dock, you're in the easy case, and it really is that easy. There's no engine work to do yet — the wind or current is already doing the one job that matters. Let the last two lines go, fend the bow off lightly so nothing bumps the dock as it swings clear, and let the boat drift out on its own.
Resist the urge to engage the engine right away. Wait until you're genuinely clear of the dock and anything alongside it, then shift into forward gear with enough power to answer the wind and carry on out. Engaging ahead too soon — before there's room to swing — is how an easy departure turns into a scrape that never needed to happen.
When the Wind Is Pinning You On: Spring Off the Bow
If wind or current is holding the boat against the dock instead, a straight pull forward can't out-muscle it — the boat just gets shoved right back onto the dock before the engine ever builds enough way to answer. What works instead is an after bow spring: a line led from a cleat near the bow aft to a cleat or piling on the dock, not straight across. That aft lead is what turns forward push into a turn.
Cast off every other line, leaving only the spring. Turn the helm toward the dock, then ease into idle-ahead power — gently, since the spring is doing the holding, not the engine. The bow stays put against the spring while the stern swings out and away from the dock. Put a fender right at the bow, where the hull actually bears against the dock while the spring holds it there. Once the stern has swung clear, cast off the spring, bring it aboard, and back away. The mirror version works from the stern: a spring made fast aft, worked against in reverse gear, swings the bow out instead of the stern.
Look Astern and Keep the Lines Under Control
Before you shift into reverse — in either case above — look astern, and check around for any other boat nearby. At low speed the bow blows off the wind far more easily than it will once you're making proper way, and a helm absorbed in lines and fenders is exactly the one who misses a boat that's already moving close behind.
Whichever case you're in, the same line discipline applies: nobody lets a line go before the helm calls for it, by name, in the order the helm wants it released. Every line that comes off the dock comes aboard coiled — never left behind on the dock, and never trailing loose over the side where it can catch underfoot or find the propeller.
Leaving a dock under power is really two skills stacked on one habit: read the conditions correctly, and you already know which of two short sequences to run. Get comfortable with singling up, the drift-clear case, and the after-bow-spring case somewhere lower-stakes, and the moment you actually need one stops feeling like a decision made under pressure.
If you'd like to build that judgment before you're doing it dockside, SailStarter's beginner lessons cover coming alongside and leaving the dock as a matched pair, each broken into the same short, visual steps this guide walks through. Try a lesson and see how quickly reading the wind turns into an automatic first move.