MIAMI’S Biscayne Bay will this week play host to the first ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of 2015, with a strong British cast set to do battle across the 13 Olympic and Paralympic events.

More than 800 sailors from 63 nations will contest the regatta as 2015 sharpens the focus towards Olympic and Paralympic qualification for Rio 2016.

The 64-strong British line-up can therefore expect to some tough competition at the six-day Miami regatta, where they claimed five titles at the last edition 12 months ago.

Weymouth’s World and European champion Giles Scott remains the man to beat in the heavyweight Finn class with his winning run now stretching to 15 months and seven world-ranked regattas.

“The unbeaten run is absolutely something I’d like to continue,” explained Scott, who’s joined in the Finn fleet by Melbourne World Cup winner Ed Wright and Ben Cornish.

“I think the fleet will be very strong this year with only a handful of the top guys missing.”

The 27-year-old Scott will aim to defend his 2014 Miami crown while Weymouth-based wind-surfer Bryony Shaw, who also kicked off her season with Miami World Cup gold last year, will also be hoping her current golden streak continues.

The 31-year-old has won three regattas over the past three months – the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, the Copa Brasil de Vela on the Rio 2016 waters in December, and the RS:X Midwinter Championships – a warm-up event to the World Cup held in Miami last weekend and where team-mate Izzy Hamilton also claimed silver.

World bronze medallists Han-nah Mills and Saskia Clark and 2014 Miami World Cup winners Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre will look to challenge in the 470 women’s event, with Portland-based Luke Patience and Elliot Willis the sole British entry in the 470 men’s division.

Melbourne World Cup gold medallist Alison Young features in the 80-boat Laser Radial event, with world bronze Nick Thomp-son gunning for a podium finish to add to his 2014 bronze in the Laser fleet.

In the Paralympic Classes, 2.4mR sailor Megan Pascoe, from Portland, and the SKUD duo of Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell come into the event as defending champions, with Paralympic gold medallist Helena Lucas also among the ones to watch in the 29-boat 2.4mR event.

The event starts today with final medal races for the Olympic classes on Saturday.