Two of the six surfers attacked by sharks over the weekend said Monday that they won't hesitate to go back in the water.

"It's just a risk we're all pretty much willing to take," Jeff White, 20, told CBS' "The Early Show." Jaison Valentin, 19, the most seriously injured of the six, agreed. "Whenever I get the chance to go back, I'm out there," he told CBS. Meanwhile, beach patrol officials in New Smyrna Beach closed a quarter-mile stretch of the beach north of Ponce Inlet Monday after a shark sighting. It's the third day in a row that a portion of the beach has been closed. Minor shark attacks are fairly common in the popular surfing area south of Daytona Beach where the weekend attacks happened. Six of seven attacks in one week in April came on the same stretch of beach. Like the attacks over the weekend, none was life-threatening. White, Valentin and a third surfer, Dylan Feindt, 19, were bitten Saturday, and three more surfers were bitten Sunday. White and Feindt, both bitten in the foot, were competing in a surfing contest. Valentin suffered serious tendon damage when a shark bit his left hand and tried to pull him off his board. He said it happened after he lost his board to a wave.

"I saw a dorsal fin, and I just tried to get to my board as quick as possible," he said. The fin disappeared by the time he had gotten back on his board, so he thought he was safe. "As I was paddling back out, I stuck my hand back in the water and it just grabbed my hand and started tugging and pulling. The next thing I know, I'm missing a nice chunk out of my skin," he said. Blacktip and spinner sharks were blamed for the attacks, said Joe Wooden, deputy beach chief for Volusia County on Central Florida's Atlantic coast. Of the 37 shark bites reported worldwide this year, 17 occurred in Volusia County, Wooden said. Sunday's victims included a 17-year-old surfer off Wilbur-by-the-Sea, Fla., bitten on her left foot. She was treated and released from a hospital, but her name was not released. Five miles away, two other surfers were bitten within a minute of each other in New Smyrna Beach, near where Saturday's attacks occurred. Becky Chapman, 17, was bitten in the left calf and a 32-year-old man, Robert Kurrek, was bitten in the right foot, Wooden said. A one-mile stretch of beach was closed for the rest of the day and the victims were hospitalized. Chapman underwent surgery but was in good condition Monday. Kurrek was released on Sunday.

Sharks Attack Surfers
Expert On Attacks
Sharks Again Spotted Off New Smyrna

On a good weekend, hundreds of surfers head to New Smyrna Beach, one of the best surfing spots in Florida. Sharks are drawn to the area because it is rich in bait fish, Wooden said. The attacks over the weekend may have occurred because so many surfers were splashing around in the water, not because sharks are getting more aggressive, an expert said. "I don't think it indicates we're under siege or anything like that," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack Files at the University of Florida. "The results are almost inevitable given the conditions." Sharks also have been on the attack this month in the Bahamas, where two Americans were bitten in the leg. Both are recovering at a Miami hospital, one after having a leg amputated. An 8-year-old boy was attacked by a bull shark in July in Pensacola, on Florida's Gulf Coast. Jessie Arbogast's arm was severed and he lost nearly all his blood. The arm was reattached but Jessie remains in a light coma.

Previous Stories:

• August 20, 2001: Sharks Attack 6 This Weekend
• August 19, 2001: Sharks Attack 3 Surfers In New Smyrna
• August 17, 2001: Shark Bites American In Bahamas -- Again
• August 13, 2001: Shark Victim Returns Home
• August 9, 2001: Sharks Attack 1,000-Pound Whale
• August 8, 2001: Sharks Spotted At New Smyrna Beach
• August 7, 2001: Shark Victim's Wife: Lifeguards Wouldn't Help
• August 6, 2001: Man Loses Leg In Shark Attack