How to enter ties for the first note in a Coda?

Welcome to the forum, Pete.
See is there yet any way to do a "left-opening" laissez vibrer tie in Dorico 3? - Dorico - Steinberg Forums for a workaround. To summarise, the obvious way is to apply the L.V. Tie property to the note(s), then drag the tie backwards in Engrave mode (and then Edit > Propagate Properties).