I have a 260cm Werner Kalliste. It's the longest length they offer, and it was a custom order. If you're paddling a canoe with it, you want as much length as you can get. While I've traveled a good distance with it, I wouldn't say I've been particularly rough with it. At this point it still shows pretty much no wear and tear on the blades. I did demo a shorter version of the paddle before I ordered one, and it did have one major chip out of it, so they aren't indestructible. I also have some all carbon canoe paddles and they've seen more abuse (pushing off rocks, etc.), but still show nothing more than just surface scratches. The blades of the canoe paddles are a bit beefier than the slimmer kayak paddle.
I can't offer much advice on straight vs. bent. I went with the straight shaft because it offered a longer length. With a bent shaft you can get away with a shorter paddle, but I had no problems with the straight shaft and couldn't demo the bent. I don't often wear gloves, and haven't produced any blisters even on my longest days (~30km). My hands sometimes get raw patches, but a slight adjustment to my grip usually stops it from getting worse, and it probably wouldn't happen at all if I'd just get out paddling more often.
