[sunfish]

Thanks for the reply Dave. Most of my diving is in the 30 to 40ft range though I do go deeper occasionally. The plastic in the Elites is springier than that in the Garas. I cut my hand on it while changing the footpockets. I suspect there may be glassfibre in it.
The Cressis are OK for stiffness but they feel slow to respond compared to the Beauchats. I think fibreglass blades are what I need to try next.
I used to do a lot of surface swimming before I bought the kayak but do little since. The beauchats are ok on the surface and i manage fine with the cressis too, by rolling my body a little to keep them from splashing.
On the subject of cracking, I've just checked and found that I bought the Beauchats in 2001 and the blades are still fine! The pockets started to split after 3 or 4 seasons.