Starting in 1979, Schwab spent a year in Santa Cruz racing ultralight displacement sailboats, including crewing on the Moore 24 "Ruby".
Schwab launched his highly modified 1930 30 Square Meter sloop, "Rumbleseat" at the end of 1993 after resurrecting the vessel from 13 years of dry storage.
At that time he began efforts to design and build an Open 60 Class boat for the 2000 Vendee Globe Race — which no American had yet officially finished.
Instead he formed the Made in America Foundation to raise funds and gained further grass roots support for the project.
Later in the race, on leg 3 (Cape Town to New Zealand), Schwab suffered a water ballast tank leak which flooded the boat.
Schwab sailed around Cape Horn without the mainsail, stopping in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands long enough to repair the boom.
Schwab maintained media contact during the race participating in 29 interviews with Ronn Barr of Sports Byline Radio.
[10] During the race Schwab operated the OceanPlanet Foundation as an educational forum, as thousands of students and sailors followed the boat and expanded their knowledge of sailing.
Prior to handing OceanPlanet to a new owner in September 2009, Schwab provided offshore training aboard the boat and other vessels, mentoring several crews of sailors to improve their ocean sailing skills.