On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:45:22 -0400, wrote:

both boats have
broken engines. Now what?

If the sailboat is capable of making way under sail, it is not NUC.
NUC requires an exceptional circumstance such as steering failure,
rigging/sail failure, dismasting, etc.

COLREGS RULE 3 - GENERAL DEFINITIONS
(f) The term 'vessel not under command' means a vessel which through
some exceptional circumstances is unable to manoeuvre as required by
these Rules and is therefore unable to keep out of the way of another
vessel.

http://users.skynet.be/p.woinin/scolreg.htm

"Theoretically a vessel which has in engine stopped and which is
drifting is not considered as Not Under Command (NUC), but large
commercial vessels which for instance cannot safely anchor near the
coast, are more and more using this method of waiting for a berth or
further orders, at times quite far off at sea. It can takes a long
time to warm up their engine, and therefore they consider themselves
as NUC."