skeg
That skeg doesn’t do much for me. I use it in a flat water situation, but never touch it on the river. It took me a season of whitewater to really get control of that boat. Now I paddle straight on flats no problem. Our club has a great ‘beginner’s series’ and every week for 8 weeks we do a different section of the Lehigh River and gradually work our way up to the Class III. It was a great learning tool and I cannot believe how much I improved. We did lots of drills along the way…ferry practice, eddy turns/peel outs…etc. I will be repeating this with my new boat so I can get up to snuff slowly! Good luck with your switch. I really do like the XP in whitewater, but it is a bear carrying around a 50lb boat and I’m looking forward to downsizing. I will still use the XP though and have no intentions of selling it. 
edging
I am edging…cause the XP will flip if you don’t…ask me how I know! 
fore/aft sensitivity
The upside is that being able to bury the stern when you want to can be big fun.
Here’s one thing you can try:
http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?215
Nice!
Yes, I can see this is going to be way fun once I get the damn roll and am happy about being upside down! At least I have something to work on this summer!
Class IV
I have no interest in Class IV at this time…I have lots to do locally in Class III or less…I have plenty to learn and have no problem being in safer waters. I have 2 small kids and no life insurance.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to all for your insight! I look forward to getting to know the Superfun this summer (in my own cautious way!!!) I will still be using the XP on runs I don’t feel comfortable putting myself out there. Hopefully I will get over my reservations with rolling and that will open lots of doors as the summer goes on.
OK - I misunderstood
I saw a post above that mentioned something about your paddling buddies and class IV - must have jumped too quick thinking that it meant you wanted to do IV.
But even in that class 3, it’s not a place I would have wanted to swim. There was a drop just below there where we watched a woman about my size spend a looong time getting clear of the hydraulic on an earlier day at the run. The bigger guys weren’t getting caught so easy, but she was pretty small and it was pretty scary how long it took. And no one could have gotten to her where she was.
For what it is worth, I have yet to find it easy to explain the claustrophobia response. Most people assume you have a problem swimming under water and say to go out and fix that - thy don’t get that it is being locked under the boat that is the issue.