I have been using a Werner Wenatchee paddle for a long time now.  While it has served me steadfastly over the last decade,  it has seen enough action that its surface area has been decreased significantly from edge wear.  So I am looking to replace it and need to make some decisions on features that were not readily available last time I bought a stick.

So, if you have strong feelings about your paddle (kayak paddle that is), lay it out here.  Is a foam core a big deal?  Bent shafts?  What length do you like for playboating?  Any advice is appreciated.

It sounds as though you were pretty good to your paddle and avoided hitting rocks with it as much as possible since your Wenatchee lasted for so long.  I'm a bit biased on paddles since I used to be a rep for Werner but here's my input.

It's all a personal thing.  Some like foam core blades and some don't.  Personally I wasn't that into them but others were.  They do have a nice floaty feel in the water and bounce back to the surface quickly to ready for that next stroke.  They are also very smooth in the water.  The floaty feel just wasn't for me.  It bothered me running rapids for some reason.  I loved it for playboating though.  As James mentioned, some manufactueres had trouble with foam core blades retaining water after they had been punctured.  The Werner foam core blades don't ratain water.  At least they didn't when I was there.  In any case if you puncture a foam core blade you've stessed the paddle severly and it most likely will end up breaking sometime soon so the paddle is pretty much done with anyway.  If it were a carbon or fiberglass blade it would either break or stress badly as well so it all evens out in the end.

As for carbon or fiberglass, some like the stiffness and lighter weight of carbon and some don't.  Some like fiberglass better because it will flex a little more and is cheaper.  Carbon does wear slower than fiberglass though which is nice.  Wear on a blade however is directly related to how well you take care of your paddle.  Of coarse you're going to hit rocks but some people will avoid rocks where they can and others just don't care if they hit every rock in the river.    

I am a huge fan of bent shafts but that's because I used to have carpel tunnel.  I went with a neutral bent shaft and the pain came to a minimum.  Eventually I went with a small shaft bent shaft and the pain subsided completely.  I enjoy the feel of having my wrists in a more neutral position and I feel I get more power than from a straight shaft.  However some prefer the straight shaft better.  If you don't have any wrist problems and enjoy your straight shaft than there's really no reason to switch unless you just want to.  Also, if you go bent, many people enjoy a 30 degree paddle or less.  I tend to like 30 degrees myself but if you're strickly playboating you may go down to zero.  When I was at Werner, generally I noticed that more people that enjoyed playboating enjoyed the bent shaft and more people that enjoyed creeking enjoyed the straight shaft. 

As for length, if you're a playboater go shorter, river runner go longer, both go somewhere inbetween.  The average is 194 and 197 out west.  It's shorter back east.  Also figure in your height and the boat(s) you'll be paddling.  I'm 5'6" and like a 188 to 191 but I used to be really big into playboating and competitions back east and just got used to the shorter feel.  I don't playboat out here anything like I did back east and I've also been out of practice for a while since I had a baby not long back.  It's funny how one's priorities can change.  ;-)        

The blade you chose will make a huge difference.  I personally like the Player a whole lot.  I think it works well for playboating as well as river running / creeking yet it was origianlly made for playboating.  I've had my paddle now for 4 years and plan to paddle with it another 4 hopefully.  Again, each person will differ.  Some like a smaller blade for a higher cadence and less resistance.  Others a bigger blad