I am at the point where I feel comfortable enough in a class II / II+ environment that I feel its time for me to move up to III (which I have tried and found great fun, even though I was not as comfortable or performant as on a II). That said, I would take one on one (or two, three) coaching from an experienced coach anytime I can afford it.
A great thing would be intermediate+ courses as a "season starter" for at least a week, maybe in a warmer climate that prepares me for the season coming up at home. Or a "selected rivers" program for three to four days / extended weekend where some different rivers are run together with a coach, with a focus on river tactics, approach and of course also some little technique tuning while at it, but more like a "guided tour" to learn about different river characteristics, and how they play out different between class II & III (or whatnot). Both things offered by Heinz Goetze here in Europe and some others as well - sometimes with an initial "technique tuning day" up front to make sure everybody is up to par.
I also want to stress that the mental part of the game really is important and can be taught as well. In my eyes, a good coach should be able to adjust his/her coaching style to their pupils, part of which can lay the foundation for a great confidence - or destroy a tiny sprout that could have grown into a big tree, respectively.
Try any boat - not only the clearly challenging ones, don't forget a Nitro can be a challenge to move around for a tiny person too - you can get your hands on, switch around with folks on your trip or at the surf wave.
Learn some repair skills. Its interesting and can be fun if you look at it from the right way, and can prove very valuable at one point.. even if only fixing your peers boats (because you paddle so good
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Work on your Outfitting. Change things if you feel they are not right. Don't heed every advice you get about it (there are politics and philosophers out there) but think about it, hard. It may also help if you find yourself down river half-way with an anchor popped out.
Since paddling is not always only about the good fun, get your
rescue skills, rope knowledge (which ones to get rid of, for example ;D) or wilderness medicine skills up as well. There are courses for that, too. Also a nice addition to a group - if you're a certified SRT or finished a wilderness medicine course, it is going to be appreciated.
I personally would recommend to get into a Spark and build some initial stability into yourself, don't know about the hard chine thing really so far but I know that the Spark worked for myself...
Oh and Pat, I still like to swim a lot ;D