Oyster Shucking Championships

Insert, twist, flick, repeat. Sounds simple, right? But if you have ever attempted to shuck an oyster you will knowthat it is anything but easy. Just ask around – damage from shucking knives and stubborn oysters is as commonas stories of ladder falls and dog bites. Competition shuckers know just where to insert their knife to coax the shellopen without leaving a shattered mess or a stabbed artery.

OysterFest is a great opportunity to learn a few tips on shucking, but watch carefully, they move quickly! Over two days the course of competition from noon to close contestants vie for the title of the fastest shucker or the best half-shell shucker or both titles.

Shelton’s championship is a preliminary event to the US shuck-off at St. Mary’s Oyster Festival in Maryland. The National Oyster Shucking Championship Contest® features the fastest men and women shuckers competing for cash prizes. National winners compete in the International Oyster Festival in Galway, Ireland.

The West Coast Shucking Champion goes through more than 6,000 oysters (donated by Taylor Shellfish). A shucker draws a tray of two dozen oysters by lottery and arranges them in preparation. An appeal is made if the contestant feels an oyster is of inferior shape.

A basket of oysters is passed to each shucker from which they can choose more favorable alternates. As the contest begins, the shuckers hold their knives at head height to indicate readiness. At the signal from the chief judge, the timekeepers start their watches and the contestants begin.

The shuckers rapidly open and place each oyster, completely severed from the shell, on its unbroken half-shell on the tray. Speed is the primary factor on Saturday.

Prizes are given through the 6th place each day. There are cash prizes for the fastest amateur shucker each day at 5:30 PM. Sunday, speed is still a factor, but even more so is presentation in what are called the Half-Shell Trials. Each contestant must not only shuck 24 oysters, but present in the half shell. In addition to speed and half shell shucking awards, there is a prize for best presentation overall. Raymundo Meza, representing Jolly Roger Seafood, received the award for presentation in 2018.