(Relative) Newbie Questions:, help appreciated

[wizardmatt]

Hi all. A question im gonna ask is probably gonna sound really daft, but please help me anyway. I still regard myself as a noob despite the fact ive been playing the game for a while, what with all the GWX releases and subsequent reinstalls. Ive never actually completed a patrol...until now. first off, what im using:

- SH3 1.4b
- GWX2.1
- JSGME2xxx
- SH3Commander3xxx
- SH3Gen0.8xxx (Tracking Room)
- GWX2.1AOTD-AA-Ship-Schleuse-Bugfix
- OLCE2 (Ubermod pt.1)
- GWX2.1 Mission Orders
- GWX2.1 Warning Orders
- and a coupla the mods within GWX2.1 (Integrated Orders etc)

1st off I completed the first patrol in Aug'39 in the 7th. However, for whatever reason i decided to start again, this time in the 2nd. i started my "5 day shakedown" patrol on aug 1st, arriving back in port on aug 7th. so far, so good.
now for the dumb question.....how do i advance the date now im back in port? my savegame is listed as "in port before 2nd patrol," but the date hasnt changed from the 7th. In sh3c ive got number of days in port as 20; sh3c has processed crew transfers, is giving me the option to award medals and skills and so on, but how do i actually advance the date? ive looked all thru the career icons/options but cant see how to do it...i warned u it was a dumb question!
another question: fatigue. i dont wanna use "No fatigue"; to be honest i sometimes find the micromanagment of the crew satisfying.....however, not if its every 2-3 hours of the voyage, as happened in my 1st patrol. ive looked at the guidelines in the GWX2.1 manual, and am using the GWX model it suggested. as suggested in another post on subsim i messed about with time compression settings to try and balance out stamina loss/recovery rates to an acceptable level. however, ive failed to find the right balance, so any suggestions regarding time compression values and fatigue would be appreciated.
cheers fellas