"Through the comp there was a chant of my name ... and all of the other women as well," Sally said.

"It was so good to hear."

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It's the second consecutive year Sally, of Greenwell Point, has claimed the Australian Women's Oyster Shucking Champion title - and she was stoked to beat last year's time by six seconds.

"I shucked 30 oysters in three minutes and four seconds," she said.

"Which is faster than I did last year, so I was super excited.

"It was judged by the fastest and best presentation. So no shell, or any chips and definitely no blood."

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The Narooma Oyster Festival, which Sally coined as an "oyster farmers Christmas", came around at the right time.

It was an opportunity to bond with and help out other farmers coming off the back of a challenging harvest due to the onslaught of rainfall that hit the South Coast earlier this year.

"It was fantastic to get together and share some laughs with the oyster family," Sally said.

"In Oyster Alley, where they set up the oysters for the crowd to come and buy, there were two farmers from Narooma whose river got opened the day before.

"It was a champion effort to go out, harvest the oysters and open them for the festival. Everyone just jumped in and helped open them.

"It was great morale for the industry, and that's what we're about. Helping each other."

Sally, a second generation oyster farmer and part owner of Jim Wild's Oysters on the Crookhaven River, hoped to get more shucking practice in before the competition.

But local oyster harvest and supply is still impacted.

"We haven't been able to harvest our own oysters for 12 weeks, so it's been really tough," she said.

"A lot of oyster farmers haven't had income for months.

"With all the fresh water we've had quite a fair bit of mortality with the stock as well.

"We've got tests in to try and get it open but with more rain again ... we may have to close."

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Sally was the inaugural women's champion in 2018, had to settle for second in 2019, while the 2020 competition was cancelled due to COVID. She picked the title back up in 2021 and once again this year.

Her technique?

"I just go through the fringe of the oyster, then make an incision," Sally said.

"We go in, cut the muscles, flip it over and cut the muscle on the other side.

"Then pop it back in the shell for presentation and try to get out as much grit as possible.

"It's a good skill to learn."

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Batemans Bay's Jimmy Yiannaros took out the title for the men's oyster shucking competition, and will go to Ireland this year to compete in world titles.

Sally has plans to cheer her "oyster family" on overseas.

"It's amazing for Australia to have someone representing oyster shucking over on the world scene," she said.

"We might even just go over there just to show our support and cheer Jimmy on."

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