Low light removes detail, but it also makes the structure of a place easier to see.
On an overcast coast, the sky, water, and land can collapse into three broad values. The scene stops asking for a catalogue of objects and becomes a study of edges: where the shore bends, where the horizon disappears, and where a dark foreground gives the eye somewhere to begin.
The temptation is to rescue every shadow. Doing so often destroys the weather that made the photograph worth taking. I would rather keep a believable black point and let a few surfaces remain unresolved. The missing information gives the frame its quiet.
Composition becomes simpler too. A horizon near the center can feel static, but that is not always a flaw. When the water and sky carry similar weight, stability is the subject. A slight interruption - a pale break in the cloud or a line of foam - is enough to hold the image together.
The practical lesson is to decide what the photograph is about before adjusting it. If the subject is weather, protect the tonal relationship. If the subject is texture, wait for side light. Trying to show both with equal force usually produces a brighter image and a weaker observation.