First time sports photography this weekend. Speed boat Racing?

Im new to sports photography. I familiar with all aspects of my camera that i am aware of. I shoot only in Raw and on manual. Sometimes i use Shutter priority or aperture priority. I have taken moon shots, nature/animal photography, weddings ect.

A friend has hired me to go to The 3rd annual event for the us title series for boat racing. They understood this is my first time in sports photography so we made a deal. He pays for my hotel all weekend and price of meals and I learn something new. Works out for the best of us.

Im using a Nikon D3000. For this event ill be using a TAMRON AF 70-300MM 1:4-5.6 Tele Macro (1:2) Lens. I know for boat racing i dont wanna use to much of a fast shutter speed because i want some blur for the water and to show motion. I can tweak that as im taking pictures. Its going to be a Bight sunny day according to Florida's weather channel ( lol ). I was wondering if anyone can help me with a General idea of a few things

1- A Base Shutter Speed ( i can adjust it as im taking pictures to go for the look im looking for)
2- Iso ( should i use 100 or a higher iso for the shutter speed i want)
3- F-Stop
4- Focus mode im going to use a Continues unless someone else has a suggestion
5- Focus Area Mode - (should i use centered since most of my pictures are gonna be of boats in the center of my screen?)
6- Metering - Not sure about this. Should i use the whole screen? Pin point or centered

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